Red-throated Diver
Surfbirds News: RSPB Archives
The new study shows the greatest increase in the Outer Hebrides but in the Highlands, numbers of this yodelling bird have also risen. A total of 58 rafts have been installed in remote lochs in the region.
Planted with turf and heather, the rafts look like natural islands within two years. “We installed them because of the flooding of lochs with a lot of incoming water or with hydroelectric dams,” Stuart Benn said. “The rafts also protect the birds from land predators and birds now using the rafts are producing twice as many chicks as those nesting on land.
“We can’t say hand on heart that the overall increase is due to the rafts because we haven’t ringed the chicks but there is no doubt that the rafts have turned out to be very, very good at what they do.”
Red-throated Diver © Frank Dhermain
Red-throated diver numbers have jumped from 935 to 1,255 breeding pairs in 12 years. However, the Shetland population is still much lower than the 700 pairs found in 1983. That study surveyed Shetland only and the new results showed only 407 pairs nesting on the Isles.
The red-throated diver is steeped in mythology and is known as the rain goose in its strongholds of Orkney and Shetland. In the 19th century, it was regarded as a foreteller of storms in many parts of the world.
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