Daniel Loveard- BSc Environmental Conservation 鈥� with placement year
Placement Blog: Durrell
About the Placement
My placement was working on the Red-billed Chough reintroduction project run by Durrell Wildlife Park. The project is based at Sorel Point on Jersey’s north coast where 16 choughs are flying freely. They are provided with supplementary food and nest sites and are monitored daily as they have recently been established on the island.聽 Alongside this project, the National Trust are working closely with Durrell to actively manage Jersey’s coastland to help restore the populations of the native birds including the chough.
My Responsibilities
My main roles consisted of radio tracking which involved monitoring them closely on a daily basis. This was to see where they chose to eventually nest and where they were foraging mostly.
Radio tracking with the Manx Loaghtan Sheep
I also took part in a behavioural study focussing on the breeding males to observe their territorial behaviour for mating and nesting. Prior to this study, Green, one of the adult choughs, was fitted with a radio transmitter as he was the most likely to set up a territory and mate with a female this season.聽 It was a great experience to see this bird up close and observe one of the mangers fit the transmitter.
Attaching the radio transmitter on breeding male Green
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Behavioural observations
Another key role was the bird husbandry at the field site, where they were fed and weighed on a daily basis. As they were fed in the aviary it was a good opportunity to view each bird in my binoculars to see if they were healthy. 聽
Feeding and weighing the birds
Other Roles
In addition to my main responsibilities, I worked on the invertebrate pitfall trap study at Sorel, which was to gain a better understanding of what the choughs were eating and what was available to them during different seasons.
I have gained a lot working on the chough project at Durrell. The radio tracking was a key skill I’ve learnt and being involved in a project that it is still in its early stages was a new experience. I felt that was important as I was learning alongside the team there. Also my bird identification and my knowledge of reintroducing species have improved since being on the project.