Hi Everyone
My name is Rob and I have the absolute pleasure of being one
of the long-term volunteers on Skomer this summer. I’ve been here for just over
three weeks and already feel very at home on this wonderful island. Do come and
say hello if you’re visiting, I’m here until the end of September!
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| Making the most of the fabulous views from Captain Kites |
And so, a little about me. I’m originally from Kent, though
have been more recently living on the south coast completing a Master’s in
Zoology at the university of Southampton. Four years of study in Southampton
has helped to hone my interests and as a result both my dissertations focused
on how animal vocalisations can suggest behavioural responses to habitat
disturbance. For my Masters dissertation I lived in Belize for three months in
summer 2018, working with a local Mennonite community. Acoustic recorders were
used to assess how bird and bat diversity and behaviour are affected by
tropical forest fragmentation.
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| Setting up an acoustic recorder at a field site in Belize |
Whilst at Southampton, I helped found the university’s
natural history society and had a short stint leading tasks for the
conservation volunteer group. When I wasn’t doing that, you could usually find
me playing gigs with various folk or jazz groups, or attempting to control my
lanky limbs with the ballet society…
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| Bog management on Brownsea Island (trying to ignore the leaky waders!) |
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| Gigging for a Fresher's event |
My love of nature came largely from my local reserve, RSPB
Dungeness, which I have visited for as long as I can remember with my parents.
In 2017, I completed a residential volunteering placement there which was a
great insight into the effect and thought that goes in to reserve management. I
am also a cetacean surveyor for ORCA and work for the university on occasion
leasing nature walks and assisting with field trips.
So enough about me – what’s life like on Skomer? It’s
difficult to describe a ‘typical’ day, because every day is different! One key
aspect is visitor engagement. This involves welcoming our day visitors to the
island and helping them to enjoy all the wonderful wildlife we have here, or
else moving the overnight guests in to their accommodation with the help of
everyone’s favourite tractor, Trundle (for which I’m now a fully-fledged
driver!) Conservation wise, I’ve been involved with butterfly, moth, bat and
seabird surveys, Manx Shearwater and Puffin chick research and bird ringing
efforts - to name but a little!
As part of the long-term volunteer placement, I’ll be doing
a personal research project conducting surveys for a variety of species. In
August, I’ll be surveying bats, moths and toads in different habitats on the
island. In September, my focus will turn towards seal pup boldness. Keep an eye
out for a future blog post for an update on how all this is going!
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| Assisting with Manx shearwater chick research led by researchers from the OxNav Group |
Skomer is giving me incredible skills which will be
invaluable for a future career in ecological management and research. But it’s
also proving to be so much more than that. From an outside perspective, island
life could seem remote or inhospitable, but apart from the lack of chocolate,
it’s quite the opposite (I do miss mars bars*). Skomer has a really homely
atmosphere, and all the staff and researchers have been really welcoming. The
island is a beautiful place, and I feel extremely privileged to call it home
this summer. I already feel fiercely proud and protective of the island – and
that’s after only three weeks, so let’s see what the next 10 have in store!
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| We got very excited about semolina...(food is an important topic of conversation on Skomer!) |
You’ve made it this far, then, congratulations on reading my
ramblings.
Cheerio for now.
Rob
*Other chocolate bars are available
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