Tom Marshall
Black Guillemots
Peel Clowns
If you think of sea birds as nesting on precarious sea-cliffs and remote off-shore islands, think again. Hang around the Peel breakwater and marina in the spring and summer and the observant among you may spot the antics of the Black Guillemot. Related to puffins, these little sea birds will scamper within a few meters of people and cars chasing each other along the harbour walls and under the water. Their red clown feet add to the spectacle. They utilise the holes in the harbour walls for nests to ley their eggs, safe from predators.
Tom Marshall
Why are they on the Red List?
Like many sea birds Black Guillemot, has declined, but this bird’s decline is dramatic. Between 1999 and 2016 (the two sea bird census) Manx Bird Life recorded a 65% drop in numbers down to 106 breeding pairs. This is much higher than the overall British decline of 26%. For this reason it is on the Manx red list and the British amber list species. Unlike many of our sea birds, black guillemot tends to stay within a few miles of the shore.
Hard to find
Black Guillemots nest in some of the most obvious public places, but they also nest in very awkward areas such as rock crevices on Bradda Head. It is the harbours however where we can do something for them. We can mimic the crevices in old harbour walls by installing nest boxes. In County Down, Northern Ireland, the British Trust for Ornithology have had great success with wooden nest boxes (Black Guillemot nest boxes | BTO - British Trust for Ornithology).
Black guillemot chicks in their nest which is in a hole in the wall at Peel marina
MWT and Douglas Harbour
MWT are working with Department of Infrastructure to erect nest boxes for black guillemots, to help provide these birds with multiple additional nesting opportunities. The boxes will be installed this year (2023) before the nesting season begins. We will continue to monitor them through the breeding season to see if they are being utilised or not.
Black guillemot nest boxes in Peel Marina
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