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SITE NAME
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Kandalaksha Bay, northern archipelago, White Sea, Russia
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| (815-33)92250 // ask_kand_reserve@com.mels.ru // Lineinaya St., 27, Kandalaksha, Murmanskaya oblast, 184042, Russia
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PROJECT DETAILS |
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
The head of the Kandalaksha Bay froze only on 27 December 2005 due to a prolonged warming in mid of the month. Ice was still loose in mid February and only 15-20 cm thick according to a report by inspector V.B. Voschikov. Degradation of started very early: wide ice holes appeared between islands by 20 March 2006, major part of the bay near Kandalaksha was ice-free in mid April and ice disappeared in early May even from localities where normally it remains until 20 May. Ice almost completely melted by mid May also on shores of islands.
The beginning of May was unusually warm and air temperatures during 9 days reached +10-17øC at day time, while temperatures did not exceed +5-7øC on most days in the second half of month. Temperatures and precipitation were close to average in June and July, but the weather turned cold in late July and early August with temperatures +7-12øC. The first night frost was recorded on 27 September in the Kandalaksha area, and permanent snow cover established on 2 December. The whole December was very warm with temperatures often around freezing. Ice appeared near shoreline of the bay and between islands in late October and half area of the strait between Kandalaksha and islands was ice-covered by mid November. However, strong wind broke ice and moved it away in late November. The bay did not freeze until the end of December.
The crop of berries was not heavy on the islands and ranked as 1 in Cloudberry, 1-2 in Crowberry Empetrum hermaphroditum, 2 in Bog bilberry, 3 in Clusterberry and Bilberry.
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| Season temperature: |
average
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| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
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snow: |
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BIOTIC
CONDITIONS
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| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
average
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Breeding conditions:
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Counts carried out on 23 treeless islands of the archipelago ranging in area from 0.1-0.3 ha (15 ha in total) allowed to discover 5 nests of Greater Scaups, 1009 nests of Common Eiders, 6 nests of Red-breasted Mergansers, 12 pairs of Turnstones, 74 pairs of Oystercatchers, 140 pairs of Herring Gulls, 16 pairs of Great Black-backed Gulls, 164 pairs of Common Gulls, 29 pairs of Arctic Terns, 22 pairs of Black Guillemots, 15 pairs of White Wagtails and 1 pair of Wheatears. Numbers of breeding birds did not change considerably compared with the previous years.
In contrast to 2005 when 3 pairs of White-tailed Sea Eagles bred on islands, these birds did not nest in 2006, although adult and immatures eagles were recorded during the whole summer. As in the previous years sea eagles were successfully hunting Common Eiders, including incubating females, and killed 125 eider females by the time of the counts of abundant seabirds nesting on the islands in late June - early July.
Forested islands of the archipelago (19 in total) were inhabited by 6 nesting pairs of Ravens. European Kestrels were seen on 2 islands in the breeding period, and their behaviour indicated possible breeding. We observed 2 Short-eared Owls almost daily in June on Ryashkov Island, while in August Hawk Owl was seen there frequently. Lapland Owl was recorded on Anisimov Island by inspector V.B. Voschikov in September and October.
Two forested islands were inhabited by one Red Fox each and one island by two foxes. Red Foxes were capable to visit also adjacent islands where they destroyed clutches of land-nesting birds. An Ermine was recorded on Ryashov Island, while American Minks inhabited four islands.
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Rodent dynamics:
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Insectivores overwintered successfully, and their relative density on Ryashkov Island was 1.7 animals/10 days in May, 4.5 animals/10 days in July and 15.7 animals/10 days in August based on captures using cylinders. Common Shrew was the dominant species.
Abundance of voles was low in spring and they did not appear in captures with snap-traps and cylinders. The numbers increased in July, and the density reached 1.8 animals/100 trap-nights on Ryashkov Island in September. The relative density based on captures using cylinders was considerably higher: 7 animals/10 days in July, 20 animals/10 days in August and 10.0 animals/10 days in September. The Short-tailed Vole was the dominant species (90.4%). Abundance of voles was low on other islands compared with 2005, and similar to abundance in 2000. Running voles, always belonging to Microtus spp., were seen on 26% of forested islands and 3% of ludas (small tree-less islands), while in 2005 the respective figures were 53% and 31%. Voles were absent in pellets of Herring Gulls (n=25), Great Black-backed Gulls (n=6) and Hooded Crow (n=31) collected in June on islands of Luvengsky and Northern archipelagos, and appeared in pellets of Herring Gulls only in August. Remains of 14 mammals were found in 284 pellets of Herring Gulls and 14 pellets of Common Gulls collected in August-September on islands of the Luvengsky archipelago, including 64.3% belonging to Bank Voles, 28.6% to Common Shrews and 7.1% to Short-tailed Voles. Voles comprised 60% of the diet of an adult American Mink on Ryashov Island, based on examination of animal latrine, and of these voles 54.5% were Short-tailed Voles and 45.5% Bank Voles.
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Rodent species recorded:
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
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