A seabird on the Scottish Natural Heritage's Isle of May reserve, which could have potentially died earlier in the year, has produced chicks for the ninth year running.
In April this year an SNH volunteer alerted reserve staff to one of the shags at the south end of the island. The bird had a plastic beer can ring round its neck, the kind that holds six beer cans together.
The plastic could have strangled the bird if it had caught on anything so staff captured the bird and removed the rubbish from its neck.
They also discovered that it was wearing a monitoring ring marked YY. After checking the bird's records at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, they discovered that bird YY was born in 1995, making it 16 years old, and that this male has bred every year since 2002, rearing 14 chicks all together.
Jeremy Squire, SNH’s Isle of May assistant reserve manager, said: “This bird has survived a close encounter with dangerous rubbish and we are pleased to report that it has successfully reared three chicks this year, in spite of it."
He added: “As well as putting up with all that nature throws at them, seabirds are also at risk from the pollution and rubbish we humans create. It just shows that the way we live our lives on land can have a direct effect on wildlife, even at sea. YY was lucky that there are people on the Isle of May and we could step in and cut the plastic ring off. Many other birds are not so lucky and end up being killed and injured by things we throw away.”
The Isle of May National Nature reserve has a population of about 500 breeding pairs of shags during the summer. The striking dark emerald green breeding plumage of these seabirds distinguishes them from the similar cormorant.
People can visit the island on the regular boat services between Easter and 30 September and it is free, although the private boat operators charge for trips to the island.
More on the Isle of May and Edinburgh Parks