Thursday 5 March 2015

The Boys Are Back in Town


We've arrived! The seas looked favourable this morning so we set off on two trips with the boat piled high. The normal first day checks of the island saw that we have survived the winter well, with no major damage to the island infrastructure, while a further bonus was that the water, gas, electricity and tractor all started with minimal fuss!

Over the coming months we’re going to be decorating the buildings, getting the island ready for the season and of course keeping an eye on the nesting birds, which today included seeing a Raven carrying nesting material and many of our cliff-nesting seabirds in attendance on the cliffs. In a little over a months time the Guillemots and Razorbills will be egg laying - exciting times!

The boat was HEAVY (see sticker) 

Wildlife highlights

The best sight to see as we pulled into North Haven this morning was vast rafts of Razorbills and Guillemots and as we walked around the Island it was great to see that the Guillemots, Razorbills, Fulmars and Kittiwake were almost all present and correct on the cliffs, while Lesser Black Backed Gulls were present on the island top. Other notable birds included a Water Rail, 1 Peregrine, 1 Merlin in the Deer Park as we set off, 12 Teal, 5 Snipe and 1 migrant Chaffinch.

Guillemots taking up residence 

A Lesser on the lookout




Leighton Newman (Visitor Officer), Jason Moss (Assistant Warden)

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