Guillemots on the Elegug Stacks (June 1970s and June 2022)

Pretty well all of the guillemots have now left their colonies at Elegug Stacks as it now the end of the breeding season. It is interesting to look at the numbers of guillemots present in June 2022, compared to their numbers some 43-47 years ago, from photos taken by David Saunders in June 1979 (Green Bridge Stack) and 1975 (main stack).

Main Stack (June 1975) digitised slide taken by David Saunders

Main Stack (June 2022) taken by B.H.

Green Bridge Stack (June 1979) digitised slide taken by David Saunders

Gren Bridge Stack (June 2022) slightly different view-point taken by A.H.

In the mid-late 1970s there were only a few hundred birds present on these two sites, counted then by David. Their numbers had not yet recovered from marine pollution incidents etc. Their gradual increase in numbers over the last few decades is clearly a nature conservation success story and hopefully their populations will continue to prosper but we should not take them for granted!