Runde & Aalesund

GLS deployment are currently being carried out at two sites in Møre & Romsdal county on the northwest coast of Norway. Atlantic puffins on the island of Runde and black-legged kittiwakes within the city of Ålesund.

Runde

Runde is a small island in Møre og Romsdal on the northwest coast of Norway. The island, on which thousands of seabirds nest, has an area of 6,2km² and is the southernmost bird cliff in Norway.

The island supports a breeding population of Northern gannets (4000 pairs), European shags (350 pairs), black-legged kittiwakes (400-500 pairs), great skuas (100 pairs), Atlantic puffins (50 000-60 000 pairs), common guillemots (1000-1500 pairs), black guillemots (40-50 pairs) and razorbills (300-400 pairs). Herring gulls, lesser black-backed gulls, great black-backed gulls and common gulls on the island can also be found breeding on the island. Runde, which has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by Birdlife International, was protected by law in 1957 and in 1979 a bird sanctuary was established on the island. Seabirds have been monitored in Runde intermittently from 1956 but the current annual monitoring scheme was established in 1972.

Runde has been a SEAPOP keysite since 2007, and a SEATRACK locality since 2014 when GLS deployment on Atlantic puffins was initiated.

Ålesund

Ålesund is a city, of approximately 45 000 inhabitants, in Möre og Romsdal county on the northwest coast of Norway. Since the 1930s kittiwakes have nested in different parts of the city. At its peak around 2000 pairs could be found breeding in various subcolonies around the city but currently the population is estimated to be around 1500 pairs.

The sub-colony in Steinvågsundet on Aspøya, where monitoring and GLS deployment are being carried out, counts around 700 pairs and is located in a rock wall above a street behind a fish landing site. This colony was first discovered by local birders in the late 1990s and has been in constant growth ever since. Steinvågsundet became a SEAPOP keysite in 2011, and a SETRACK locality in 2014 although GLS loggers have been instrumented on kittiwakes there since 2013.