RSBP Descriptions

Bempton-Breeding-Birds.html

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  <font size='4'>Data created 2010 - 2012.</font>
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  <font size='4'>In each of the three years 2010 - 2012, adult gannets from Bempton\nCliffs were fitted with satellite
    tags to investigate their foraging ranges\nduring chick-rearing and early post-breeding periods. This was done
    to\nestablish whether there is overlap with potential development zones for\noffshore wind energy generation in the
    North Sea. The three seasons of study,\nin 2010 (n=14 birds), 2011 (n=13) and 2012 (n=15), have identified
    the\npreviously unknown sea areas used by adult gannets from Bempton Cliffs.\nLocations of tagged birds during
    chick-rearing coincided with the Hornsea\noffshore wind energy zone in particular, with some birds recorded on
    Dogger\nBank and a few records in the East Anglia zone, and within the Greater Wash\nstrategic area for offshore
    wind energy generation. </font>
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  <font size='4'><span style='background:white'>Breeding success at Bempton\nCliffs was high in all three years.
      Locations during the three chick-rearing\nperiods show a marked similarity in the area of active use, but a
      notable\ndifference in the extent of the core area used in 2012. Distance to colony had\nthe over-riding influence
      on foraging range. Relatively small annual samples\nmean that we remain unsure how representative the data are of
      year to year\nforaging activity by breeding gannets from Bempton Cliffs, especially in years\nof lower breeding
      productivity. However the collective foraging range of the\nforty two tagged birds encompassed the full seaward
      radius around Bempton\nCliffs, so we are reasonably confident that our results represent the sea areas\nused by
      adult gannets, at least in seasons of good breeding productivity.</span> </font>
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  <font size='4'>Platform transmitter terminals (PTTs) were fitted to gannets rather than\nGPS data loggers as these do
    not require recapture or close approach, with\nclear line of sight, to remotely download data, neither of which was
    possible\nat Bempton Cliffs. Tags were attached with TESA tape to the tail feathers so\nfell off when the birds
    moulted if not long before this.</font>
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  <font size='4'>In 2010 tags were set to continuously transmit. In 2011 4 tags were set to\ncontinuously transmit
    whilst another 5 were set up using a variable duty cycle.\nThe latter were programmed to be on for 6hrs and off for
    24hrs for 2 cycles,\nfollowed by continuous transmission for 5 cycles, then 6hrs on/24hrs off for\nthe next 64
    cycles, followed by 6hrs on/48hrs off for the remainder of the\nbattery life. This schedule permits daily drift of
    the time when the tag is on\nthereby increasing the likelihood of coinciding with a satellite passing\noverhead. The
    variable duty cycle was utilised to extend battery life beyond\nthe chick-rearing period, with the aim of obtaining
    information post-breeding\nwhen gannets are no longer constrained to return to Bempton Cliffs. In 2012, ten tags
    were fitted on continuous\ntransmission (one of which quickly failed) and 5 on the variable duty cycle.</font>
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  <font size='4'>Initial processing of satellite data was carried out by ARGOS (CLS,\nFrance). Data were downloaded and
    duplicate data points were removed.\nUnrealistic records were removed i.e. where bird flight speed exceeded 90kmh
    or\nwhere invalid locations were classified as Z by ARGOS or where records were\n&gt;5km inland.</font>
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    <font size='4'>This dataset contains all the data\ncollected, i.e. ARGOS quality codes 3,2,1,0, A and B. This is
      because excluding\nB class records excludes a lot of potentially valid data as class B records\naccount for a high
      proportion of the data obtained from satellite tags on\nhighly mobile organisms such as seabirds. It also
      complicates the\ninterpretation of individual trips by leaving temporal and spatial gaps which\nincrease the
      likelihood that a bird’s return to the breeding colony might be\nmissed, leading to likely inflation of estimates
      of foraging trip\nparameters.</font>
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  <font size='4'><span style='background:white'>The scientific publication describing the\nwork is available </span><a
      href='https://britishbirds.co.uk/article/ranging-behaviour-northern-gannets/' target='_blank'><span
        style='line-height: 107%; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;'>here</span></a><span
      style='background:white'>.</span></font>
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