West Galloway SOC - Birding in and Around Stranraer

A fascinating talk by SOC President Chris Waltho about the increasing distribution of eider duck in South West Scotland.

Chris described how most eiders in our area had originated from the island of Colonsay and that until relatively recently, there were no eiders in Loch Ryan, whereas now it is an important moulting ground for the bird.

Chris outlined the spread of Eider from a mere West of Scotland fringe bird to colonising the British coastline. A good colony occupied Colonsay before 1800 and by 1860 the first nesting record in the country appeared in the Clyde area and a second breeding was confirmed on the Ayrshire coast in 1880. A few years later the third recorded nest was at Rockcliffe in the South West of Scotland. In 1912 the Eider bred in Northern Ireland and by 1947 it had spread to North West England.

Clutch sizes vary from one to eight eggs with four to live being the norm. The young are led straight to water after hatching, where they are fed on prey such as shrimps to begin with. The food extends to mussels and crabs and even starfish as the young grow. The male Eider moult in July and the females band together to protect their offspring against herring and black backed gulls which do take a good number.

The talk was accompanied by some stunning photographs of the ducks, including shots of them eating starfish, sea urchins, crabs and their preferred prey, mussels. This was the subject of the second half of the talk and Chris illustrated how herring gulls steal food from the eiders - but only if the eiders brought up starfish.

As expected, many people attended Chris' talk and it was a great end to the season of indoor meetings. West Galloway SOC will continue to meet at outdoor meetings over the summer. Our next event starts at Ardwell shore picnic area at 1:30pm on Saturday 28th March.

By Alan Johnstone & Mike Harrison

Labels: chris waltho, eider