Another Guest Blog - Calum Bachell

During July I spent 10 nights volunteering on the Isle of May. I had previously worked on the island last July, however this time around was much different, especially in terms of weather - as it has been very hot compared to the torrential rain last year. The breeding times of some of the birds are noticeably different this year, likely as a result of the harsh winter. This meant the first puffin fledged only recently whereas they were everywhere last time around!

 

The jobs list was slightly different this year. Amidst helping with tourist boats and puffin ringing, I helped in monitoring gull predation on the Tern colonies, and was lucky enough to see some of the first tern fledglings -hopefully a good sign that they will be more successful this year compared to previous efforts.

 

 

The May Princess kept us busy, by arriving every day and bringing around 100 passengers to visit the island each time. Speaking with the visitors could be very interesting, as they ranged from first time visitors and keen bird photographers - to people who had been on, or worked on, the island 50+ years ago! I recently started trying my hand at wildlife photography and have enjoyed it greatly so far. My pictures may not be at a professional standard yet, but the Island seems to be the perfect place to get plenty of practice.

 

The low-light has undergone a substantial transformation between my visits, and is much nicer inside, making it a great place to enjoy a whisky (or two!). What hasn’t changed much, however, is the great attitude of those working on the island, whether for CEH or SNH. Some of the faces were new, many were familiar, but everyone there is passionate in their work and managed to teach me a great deal about the work required to monitor bird populations and maintain a nature reserve.

 

Towards the end of my tenure, staying up late rewarded me with stunning, starry night skies, clear of all light pollution, save for the occasional beam from the lighthouse. But this was nothing in comparison to a fantastic sunset on one of my last days on the island. I had a great time on the island again, and will hopefully be back before the season ends.

 

 

To see every bird on the Isle of May - Klara Wanelik

Student  Klara Wanelik guest blogs today.

She writes -

This year is my first bird listing year. I reluctantly gave in to my boyfriend, Jake’s encouragement and started one on New Year’s Day. By mid-April when I arrived on the Isle of May, Jake was steaming ahead of me with 125 birds on his list and I was lagging behind with just 95. I didn’t think of myself as a particularly competitive bird lister, but during the two months that I spent on the Island that all changed…

I ticked off all the resident seabirds very quickly as well as a Wheatear, a small population of which had landed on the Island. That got me to 111 but things slowed down after that. I hadn’t got my eye in and I found it difficult to spot any migrants, let alone identify them. I started to check the daily sightings board for inspiration and this led me to my first notable discovery: a Black Guillemot (or “Tistie”).  I ran across the Island to the low light where it had been reported and sat watching the shore. Finally, I spotted it - a beautiful combination of black, white and bright red (and no. 112).  Then the weather went downhill and the wind switched to a westerly (I learnt to despise westerlies, like every other birder on the Island). I didn’t see anything interesting for a while but just as I was losing hope I glimpsed a Black Redstart, hopping along a wall by the bain trap in the rain.

My list started to steadily grow after that and I became infamous for my obsessive listing, giving regular updates on my progress to everyone at dinner (relative to Jake’s, of course). It wasn’t quite that bad in reality. When the poor bedraggled Hobby dropped in, I made a point of finishing my work before sprinting like a maniac down from the south horn to the mouse house. I made it, and that was no. 124. No. 125 was a Grasshopper Warbler in the garden behind the low trap. I suddenly realised that I was tied with Jake and my competitive instinct cranked up a notch. A Sand Martin pushed me into the lead, followed by a Red-backed Shrike, a Spotted Flycatcher and finally a Pied Flycatcher (no. 133) - what a beautiful bird. 

The most memorable birds came towards the end of my stay. After partying into the morning and drinking a considerable amount of alcohol, we were all woken up by a message from the low lighters – they had found a Woodchat Shrike up at the top trap! I don’t think I’ve ever jumped out of bed with quite so much excitement. I legged it up palpitation brae to find a small (and hungover) congregation watching the bird. What a great way to start the day. My final tick on the island came only a day before I was due to leave. It was another early morning arrival – a majestic Long-eared Owl. What an end to an amazing, bird-filled two months on the island. 

I left the island at 141, well ahead of Jake, and he still hasn’t caught up. In case you’re interested, our relationship hasn’t suffered from all this fanatical listing, yet.

A few shots

A small colony of Common Spotted Orchids are on the South Plateau

We've started counting waders already. There are plenty of Purple Sandpipers and Turnstone about

 

 This Herring Gull has a yellow head. We'd love to know why!

This strange cloud was over the Mainlight

Will this be the last Eider Duckling of the season?

The Mallard Duckling has nearly fledged. First ever successful breeding attempt

This Grey Heron recieved an Isle of May welcome from the Terns

My first field season on the Isle of May - Klara Wanelik

This is the first of two Guest blogs from Klara Wanelik

My first field season on the Isle of May

I arrived on the Isle of May for my first field season on the 15^th April. I was anxious, slightly home-sick and unsure of what to expect. My aim was to collect detailed data on the movements of pre-breeding guillemots to shine some light on the possibility of disease transmission within the colony. Little did I know that I would learn a lot more than this during my two months on the island.

On my first day out in the field, I was welcomed by gale-force winds, bitter cold and sea-spray battering down like rain. I eventually realised that it was impossible to do any work without risking being flung from the cliffs. That evening I found out that my grandmother had passed away. I felt incredibly isolated, in the middle of the North Sea and so far away from my family. I left the island the next morning. When I got back, I started spending longer and longer days out in the field, sitting in the same spot for up to three hours collecting my data. I felt comforted by the island and sitting out on the cliffs became almost meditative.

Although I enjoyed the solitude of my work during the day, I also looked forward to the communal dinner times. As my time on the island passed, I got to know the residents of the island better and better. Some people came and went but others were a constant presence. We enjoyed multiple ‘whisky o’clocks’ together, as well as a rounders game, movie nights, star gazing, a salsa night, a barbeque and a party in the south horn (among other things). Living on the island also made me realise how little I really needed to be happy:  fresh air, a bit of food and drink, cleanish clothes and some good company. Obviously, showers were off limits but I actually stopped caring so much about those worryingly quickly.

When I left the island in mid-June, I was not only very sad to be leaving such a unique experience but also scared of returning to the mainland with all its hustle and bustle. I knew then that I had caught the ‘island bug’ and the moment I stepped back onto the mainland I started to look forward to my second field season. Until next year!

Puffin Ringing

I feel I cheated blog fans with a island kettle update so here is a few pictures from tonight's Puffin netting. 

We've never seen 3 sprats in a load before!

Calum got munched! He was very brave.

Another magical sunset on the Isle of May

We've got a kettle!

How could something so seemingly unexciting be interesting? 

Well for many years we have have been relying on gas to boil our water on the island. The quick tea break is lengthened as we wait for the kettle to boil. 

Since the new solar panel farm went in our batteries have been reading 100% particularly with all this fine weather so we buckled and have got an electric kettle from our colleagues at Cupar. 

It took Mike Harris and I a while to work out how to turn it on and put water in it but once the basics were worked out there it was, a lovely quick cup of tea.   

What a difference it has made. The washing up has been made so much easier too. 

And after 6 boils the batteries are still reading 100% as I write! 

We got a toaster too but I might save that for another blog posting!

First Puffling!

Our first Puffling of the year was found tonight in the potato patch. We were expecting one any day now. It was likely that it was attracted to the mothtrap light last night and has hidden there all day today. By a coincidence we also harvested our first potatoes as well today. The Puffling must have been hidden there while we were doing it!