Allegations of egg-thefts on the Medway

[Kevin Thornton]

About this time last year I shared allegations with RSPB Investigations of disturbance of breeding gulls on the Medway, namely the theft of eggs from specific gulleries around the Medway islands. The information was shared with RSPB Species Investigations at the time and, although numbers of sitting birds had indeed dropped in those areas (with three satellite groups deserting), nothing could be substantiated and no further unusual activity was recorded that season.

At the time a couple of local sources alleged this was the work of a small no. working as a team, with the eggs being taken and sold for food.

Earlier this spring a third local source, unaware of my interest in the matter, informed me of the group and that it appeared they were about to become active again.

To date, nothing untoward appears to have happened (from the shoreline at least), but this coming week is potentially a ‘good’ time for any such visit, following on from re-building and relaying over the last spring tides a fortnight or so ago, especially among the outer satellite groups which are easiest to access.

Some of the more active local birders on the ground are already in the loop. I had updated RSPB Species Investigations again and have also spoken informally with Natural England, who now both feel getting the word out within the local birding community could be useful. Sadly it seems this type of wildlife crime does still occur routinely in the UK, and may be becoming more frequent. RSPB Species Investigations had already been dealing with a 'live' incident in Dorset, news of which has just been released today http://birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=5681 .

The message for anyone birding the estuary, is essentially whilst our gulleries can and do take to the air en masse for several ‘normal’ reasons, if a gullery goes up *and* it appears there are people acting suspiciously within that colony, it is worth considering contacting the police on 101 (the Medway/Swale are served by a River Police Unit). Also worth getting a picture, however distant. There may be people out on the islands for other reasons; many are in private hands so boats, canoes, etc can and do land on the islands, away from the main colonies from time to time, all quite innocently. Last year’s allegations were of a group of individuals methodically working through gulleries.

Please feel free to pass this on to anyone not in the group but who visits/counts the Medway/Swale.

[Murray]

Kevin, thanks for highlighting this issue. All very sad and depressing. Another example of our wildlife being seen as nothing more than something to make money from for "free", although a degree of effort and risk involved here with the strong tides and dangerous mud.
Having just been on a Medway WeBS count with RSPB I can confirm that very high numbers of gulls are present at the moment. The link in Kevin's note relates to egg thefts in Poole Harbour where there was evidence of human landings at an island gull colony and empty nests. Disturbingly the raid or raids occurred during the dead of night so no amount of shore based watching will help if a similar approach is taken in the Medway.
Having alerted those people I have contact with regarding the Medway and Thames (plenty of nesting gulls at Cliffe these days too), it appears that NE have not issued any licences for the collection of gull eggs this year. So, assuming that these are not long-standing once granted and have to be re-applied for each year, any egg collecting activity seen will be illegal and the police should be notified.
Soon after seeing the notes from Kevin and Birdguides, I saw a Tweet (or re-Tweet) from a former Kent birder now living in Dorset. It related to a feature by BBC Wild Cook about a special salad being served in top London restaurants that can only be enjoyed 4 weeks a year: gull egg salad!.......at £7 an egg!! A fancy photo included. Talk about giving giving an incentive for organised crime! From what I've heard about other recipe ideas involving wild plants etc, this BBC website (and no doubt others like it), whilst well intended, are simply encouraging commercial exploitation of our natural environment.
It's good that folk are aware of this (gull egg) issue and hopefully increased vigilance will help. I should say that there will be some survey work on one day early next week on one of the Medway islands that will involve a landing, so bear this in mind! There will be no collection of eggs, however, so any sightings of this activity should be reported to the police.

[Kevin Thornton]

Murray,

I put a little more detail here- http://birdingsouthernmedway.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/plunderers.html which had already made clear the allegations last year were of 'daylight robberies' watched by the 3rd parties. What I've put out was o.k.'d by RSPB species investigation, other info passed on may well have been made available to the local staff last year, and now this. The main thing both NE and RSPB agreed with was a little more local publicity as being alleged as happening here in daylight hours.

Kevin

> Date: Sat, 21 May 2016 01:35:58 -0700
> From: murray....@live.co.uk
> To: kent-b...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: [Kent-Birders] Allegations of egg-thefts on the Medway

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[Kevin Thornton]

Away from that particular threat Murray-

>> I should say that there will be some survey work on one day early next week on one of the Medway islands that will involve a landing, so bear this in mind!

Should I bear it in mind as being a landing for populations surveying by quadrat surveys? RSPB methodology (as per Bird Monitoring Methods, Gilbert et. al.) advises against both transect counts and 'flush' type counts for small gulls, due to the high risks involved- one in particular being from the larger gull spp. nesting/loafing in the area.  (I take it you've noted the huge increase in nos. of loafing non-breeding gulls on the estuary this year? With one satellite colony lost to them for a high-tide roost?)

Reading one account by a helper taken out surveying in fairly recent years it was clear not a quadrat at that time. It is a difficult job to get those other methods right, but additional due diligence is utmost importance when the RSPB methodology continues by stressing that transects may well not be 'appropriate' if gulls of particularly high conservation value are nesting within a colony.

With the productivity rates relatively low here, one has to hope such risk/rewards has been considered fully; the sites I am involved with certainly decided inappropriate to try when I talked through the relevant pages in the RSPB Manual.

I know you were adamant on landings last time we chatted on the subject in here; one can but live in hope that within the next few years suitable photographic surveying will become a norm for these colonies (as long as they can hang on against the ever increasing tide levels).

Kevin