Au revoir Flora....

 Flora waving to the assembled crowd

 The boat heads to Anstruther

 David made sure Flora left

Here's a few shots of the lovely volunteer Flora Hoban leaving on Friday. It was a dramatic exit from the island with Kirkhaven harbour mouth unusable due to the swell. She and David got off safely with the boat fantastically skippered by Colin!

Flora has been coming out to the island for 7 years and is a valued member of the team. She has worked hard painting and doing Tern watches. A good crowd was present to wave her off.

Thanks again Flora for all your hard work. Next year?

Introducing Lucie.

Ahoj,

When you hear someone speaking with a strange accent, it wouldn’t be a tourist with weird Scots’ style accent but me – Lucie, the second SNH volunteer. I come from Czech Republic and currently study MSc conservation and biodiversity at the University of Leeds. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to spend a couple of months doing tasks such as counting gulls and terns, showing the beauty of the island to tourists, all odd jobs around and anything where as many helping hands are needed around.

I decided to get my dream come true after many years of working with children and in tourism sector, while enjoying natural beauty of different continents. Not being able to find almost any kind of job, I decided to go back to University and become an ecologist.

I arrived to May on a day of very rough sea. The boat was going up and down like a Yo-yo and the cold wind kept me lets say ‘well preserved’. When we finally landed, I was warmly welcomed by the SNH team and bird researchers. I fell in love with the island straight away; with the hauling sound of Eiders, freaky gull attacks, clicking sound of flying puffins and bunnies hopping everywhere. I look forward to learn about the May’s wildlife and welcome visitors to enjoy at least a glimpse of my lucky time….

Volunteer Paula

A week flies by…

I’m not exactly a stranger to the Isle of May as I’ve spent several winter seasons out here studying the seals. However, it’s hard to imagine the island as a bird haven when my experience of the dawn chorus is one of howls (from the seals) and ‘who’s for coffee’ (from the seal researchers). So when the chance came to volunteer out here for the summer, I grabbed it with both hands.

I’ll be helping with a variety of tasks over the summer – general maintenance, talking to visitors and a bit of seabird research too. I’ve only been here a week, but it’s all been a learning experience so far – cleaning out cupboards has unearthed old equipment and tools from the lighthouse, as well as newspapers dating back to 1934 when a night at the theatre would cost you a shilling (or 5p in new money!). Adding stuff to the touch table has meant cornering a seabird researcher to find out what birds the skulls and feathers are from, and even sitting in the hide counting seabirds has taught me that puffins mate on water. And it doesn’t stop there - although I knew that the rabbits were originally introduced by the monks, I never realised how important they have become for conserving the maritime grassland. As for all the different birds…. well, there’s an awful lot of learning to be done there, but it’s impossible not to learn things when you are surrounded by them 24/7. Hopefully I can pass on some knowledge in return – there might not be as many seals here as there are during the breeding season, but there are normally a few hanging around, so if you’re visiting the island and want to know about them, make sure you find me when you’re here.

Paula (summer volunteer)