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Wildlife Observer Wales Course

January 31, 2012

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Wildlife Observer Wales Courses run by Sea Trust - Really good way to have some concentrated learning delivered by some excellent tutors.

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FURTHER INFORMATION FROM PEMBROKESHIRE COLLEGE

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Seals, Steps And Generator Sheds - A July/ Early August Island Update

Seals, Steps And Generator Sheds - A July/ Early August Island Update Wildlife and Monitoring Updates Goodbye to the Auks & Amy In July we said goodbye to the last of the razorbills and guillemots! The final chicks fledged (or became Greater Black Backed lunch) and the last of the adults left the island. Amy, Will and Pete's study plots were completed! We still had one or two puffin stragglers about in early August, but the Wick was looking very empty and quiet compared to just a few weeks previously. With the auks leaving, so did Amy (fortunately fledging, not eaten by a Greater Black Backed Gull) - one of our LTV's from the April-July season. We were all very sad to see her go! Amy has included her goodbye message at the end of this blog. One of the last puffins enjoying a sunset before their departure. Vole Monitoring At the end of July we started monitoring of our endemic vole subspecies - the Skomer Vole ( Myodes glareolus skomerensis ). We were joined by Dr Claire ...

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My name is Annette and I’m a researcher at the University of Oxford. I have been doing research on Skomer since 2011, first as a research assistant, then as a PhD student, and now as a fully-fledged postdoctoral researcher. I am lucky enough to come and spend some time on the island each year (for up to 5 months when I’m really lucky), to study the seabirds on the island. Some of you may have met me, when I’m not up in the middle of the night tracking shearwaters, awake at dawn observing puffins, or with my arm down a burrow in the middle of the day, I’m usually working on my computer in the library. Over the last 5 years I have been working with Manx shearwaters, guillemots, razorbills and kittiwakes, but my main study species during my PhD was the Atlantic puffin. Figure 1 – Annette at work. Not a bad job? (photo M. Kavelaars). We are approaching the end of July, when young pufflings fledge from their burrow in the middle of the night and adults gather on the...

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