Wow, what a day! Sunshine, migrants, a spectacular sunset, a beautiful moonrise, and then watching the International Space Station fly overhead too. Just a quick few photos while I have a chance!
Wednesday, 16 April 2014
A beautiful day
Skomer Island
Having arrived on Skomer on the 11th I have been getting to know the island and the sites that I will be monitoring the seabirds at. The weather has been really kind so far, blue skies and sunshine most of the time, but I’m sure that won’t last!
The night skies have been really clear, the moon has been so bright that a torch was unnecessary! That does mean that the stars aren’t as great as they could be, so I can look forward to some really dark nights with the Milky way.
Sunrise was a beautiful time to be out on the island with only two other researchers up and about already.
Thursday, 3 April 2014
The more pleasant side of Tresco!
Having had the dubious pleasure of exploring Tresco dump I did then get the far more pleasant opportunity to wander through the Abbey gardens, an incredible variety of sub-tropical plants from South America, Mexico, South Africa, the Canaries and Australia.
The latter half winter has been a relentless procession of low pressures pounding the islands, but low and behold it was a beautiful day. Glorious green foliage and brilliant blue skies.
St Mary’s is just visible in the distance.
Plenty of Palms.
The remains of a Red Squirrels dinner
The gardens have recently introduced some Red Squirrels, an interesting idea probably for the benefit of the paying punters and some press rather than any good conservation reason. I only saw a couple of them near the cafe, getting nuts from a feeding station containing hazelnuts, and just below, a very fat rat! There’s evidence on them in a couple of places around the garden where they have been eating the seeds from pine cones.
The St Agnes Lighthouse burner
In the gardens is a museum of ship figureheads, and there with them is the old burner from the St Agnes lighthouse. This fire burnt every single night for 110 years between 1680 and 1790 before being replaced by oil lamps. There must have been a lot coal lifted to the top of the lighthouse to keep it going. The ash was tipped outside the lighthouse and now forms the fertile garden of its current inhabitant.
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
Visit to Bryher and Tresco
As part of the IOSSRP project a visit was made to Bryher and Tresco to trap some rats for genetic analysis work. Will, Alex and I stayed on Bryher for a week, visiting Tresco each day to check the traps. It was a great chance to visit two more islands and have an explore.
Long-tailed duck
The view from our accommodation at sunrise, looking towards Tresco
The sheltered channel between Bryher and Tresco is perfect for mooring boats in, much of the winter the Agnes boat had to be moored here rather than at St Agnes due to the stormy seas.
Tresco castle 360 degree view
We got to visit all the best bits of the island, including the dump!
These large concrete bunkers contain food waste, unfortunately the ‘breather holes’ allow rats to run in and out feeding quite happily. The earth banks behind are riddled with rat burrows.
Looking from Tresco to towards Bryher, with Cromwell's castle on the left
Tresco from Bryher
Rat trails running through the grass
Not seen for several months now on St Agnes, rat trails can be seen all over the island running through the grass on Bryher and Tresco.
A lovely rat hole under a compost bin
The design of these compost bins means that rats can burrow into their base and obtain a plentiful supply of food. Part of the IOSSRP project was to provide compost bins and wheelie bins to the residents so that the source of food was removed from the rats. A good compost bin is also a great way of producing compost for the garden.
Rat footprints in the mud on a track
Golden sands on Tresco
There is much more to Tresco than just the gardens. The golden sandy beaches were beautiful, and the northern end of the island is covered in a lovely area of coastal heath. If you’re like me and prefer to be away from crowds of people then summer time might not be the best time to visit, but early spring was lovely and quiet. Photos of the garden next time.
Thursday, 13 March 2014
Migration time
There are a few migrants passing through at the moment. In the lovely weather last weekend there were Chiff-chaffs singing, a certain sign of spring? Since then it’s been disappointingly overcast and misty, but at least there are a few migrants passing through. Lets hope we get a few more nice birds, hoopoe? wryneck?
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