Somerset Ornithological Society - Bird News
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Re: Cormorant roosts

A mid afternoon visit to Catcott Lows car park hide and watching until dusk will, as Dave says, reveal Cormorants in large numbers arriving from all points of the compass, as they have been doing for the last couple of years, birds are now showing breeding plumage, birds from the west are usually following the South Drain eastward then they break off S. East over the Lows to drop into the dead trees in Canada Farm Lake.

Re: Cormorant roosts

Thanks Dave,

I was going to say this is puzzling in view of my observations of the birds flying out of Canada in the evenings last week, but the birds now have breeding patches on, so perhaps they are spending days inland and heading to Durleigh reservoir or Steep Holm for nesting purposes?

Last year I was filming Carbo Sinensis, the European incomers, at Fairburn Ings, Yorkshire and the birds were nesting on the reserve, but flying out during the day to feed.

I'd love to know more about these fascinating birds.

Nick.

Re: Cormorant roosts

Apologies Alan, our posts crossed

Re: Cormorant roosts

A glance through the pages of the latest County bird report, Somerset Birds 2013, reveals that the previous breeding colony at Noah's Lake, Shapwick Heath NNR, had moved completely to Canada Farm Lake, where 21 nests were observed on March 29th.
Prior to this, before the collapse of most of its water-logged dead trees, the breeding colony on Noah's Lake in 2010 was 25 nesting pairs, which quickly reduced with the loss of suitable nesting trees, the colony moving to Canada Farm Lake.
Regarding roosting, before the loss of the trees at Noah's Lake, large numbers roosted here, 123 in Jan and 115 in Dec 2009, and I personally watched the roost build up during the last hour of daylight on several occasions. Not sure if any proper roosting counts have been done at Canada Farm Lake, but have seen c.60 there an hour before darkness, with birds still arriving, in winter 2013/2014, and the 2013 report shows a count there of 93 in Oct.

Re: Cormorant roosts

A good reminder to check out Canada farm lake for the Cormorant nests in the next few days - along with a planned visit to Steep Holm at the end of the week to see the activity on the Northern cliffs.

Re: Cormorant roosts

A long time since this thread was started but a brief trip out the middle of the Bristol channel answered my own question.

While there are breeding birds at Canada lake and other locations around the Somerset levels, the bulk of local Cormorants arrive in the morning are coastal breeding.

Numerous times, especially in winter, I have seen groups of Cormorants fly out from the Chew Valley lakes as the light starts to fade. They fly out in the direction of Weston Super Mare and while the Canada lake hypothesis was possible, it didn't really make sense.

A trip to Sand bay at the right time of day suggested I might be correct, as the birds head out directly for the two mid-channel islands. In late May, I was fortunate to get a place on the first visits the year to Steepholm (which I can highly recommend for birders). On the Western side of the island, there is a sizeable breeding colony of Cormorants (Carbo carbo, not Carbo sinensis). I estimate flying time to the Chew Valley to be 15-20 minutes making the 'commute' to the rich feeding grounds, with abundant trout, perfectly feasible.