Below is a list of all of the bird species that I have seen whilst I was on the Farnes. This way people can just look at the list, rather than asking me all the time! In total, I saw 69 different species, 51 of which I saw for the first time, and 24 of which breed on the islands (if I’ve remembered correctly!).
B = Breeds on the islands
* = the first time I saw that species was on the islands
Shelduck B
Mallard B
Teal
Eider B *
Red-breasted Merganser B *
Fulmar B *
Sooty Shearwater *
Manx Shearwater *
Storm Petrel *
Cormorant B
Shag B *
Gannet *
Grey Heron
Black Kite *
White-tailed Eagle *
Sparrowhawk
Water Rail *
Oystercatcher B
Ringed Plover B
Golden Plover *
Dunlin *
Knot *
Purple Sandpiper *
Snipe * (one flew over whilst ringing in Birmingham, but it was 6am in the winter so I didn’t see it properly)
Turnstone *
Whimbrel *
Curlew *
Redshank *
Green Sandpiper *
Wood Sandpiper *
Arctic Skua *
Great Skua *
Little Gull *
Black-headed Gull B
Herring Gull B
Lesser Black-backed Gull B
Great Black-backed Gull B
Kittiwake B *
Sandwich Tern B *
Roseate Tern *
Common Tern B *
Arctic Tern B *
Little Tern *
Guillemot B *
Razorbill B *
Puffin B *
Feral Pigeon B
Turtle Dove *
Long-eared Owl *
Swift
Swallow B
Pied Wagtail B
Ashy-headed Wagtail *
Tree Pipit *
Meadow Pipit *
Rock Pipit B *
Robin
Whinchat *
Thrush Nightingale *
Wheatear *
Icterine Warbler *
Melodious Warbler *
Barred Warbler *
Whitethroat *
Garden Warbler *
Willow Warbler *
Wood Warbler *
Pied Flycatcher *
Starling
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Return to the Real World
So that’s it now, I have returned to the real world, where it is not acceptable to walk around in clothes covered in bird poo/paint/glue/lots of dirt, with bird poo in your very greasy unwashed hair, smelling of birds and poo and fish, and just generally looking like a dirty tramp. Now I go back to regular showers, central heating, poo-free, paint-free, smell-free, regularly washed clothes! But I don’t want to!! I want to stay on the Farnes! Despite the fact that it makes me an actual tramp! But alas, I cannot afford it. I need to find some paid work or this trip to Mauritius is likely to bankrupt me. But all is good; I have more money than I originally thought, so I have a bit of time to find a nice job to do for when I come back from my holiday. Until then, looks like I’m going to have to go back to horribly boring office work, spending my time daydreaming about the Farnes…
But I have promised to go back in November to look at the cute little fluffy little awesome little cute seal pups! Which I’m already looking forward to! And hopefully I’ll be able to come back next year for the full 6 months, which would be awesome! But until then, Hemel it is! I’ll miss everybody on the Farnes very much L but hopefully I will get to meet up with lots of them! I’ve started making plans with some of them already (you know who you are) and I expect these plans to happen!! And I’m still waiting for my wellies from Steely! I will not forget!!! I will try to keep birding (coz I’ve really enjoyed it) and I may even have a look at some butterflies (coz they are kinda pretty, despite being evil). I really enjoyed my little beach party bbq thing and I hope all the guys did too! I will miss everyone and island life and the birds lots and lots and lots!
In other news, we've had a juvenile White-tailed Eagle on the Farnes for the past few days, which is awesome! He's so massive! He's one that's been released from up in Scotland, so he's got big yellow tags on his wings and a radio tracker and stuff, so not entirely wild unfortuntely, but still awesome! There was also a leucistic (albino) Shag found on Brownsman, which was pretty mental! But it didn't hang around for long unfortunately. For awesome photos and lots of info on all the birds seen on the islands, and for details on the general everyday life of the wardens, check out the Farne Islands official blog at http://farnephoto.blogspot.com/
Hope everyone enjoys their time left on the islands! xx
But I have promised to go back in November to look at the cute little fluffy little awesome little cute seal pups! Which I’m already looking forward to! And hopefully I’ll be able to come back next year for the full 6 months, which would be awesome! But until then, Hemel it is! I’ll miss everybody on the Farnes very much L but hopefully I will get to meet up with lots of them! I’ve started making plans with some of them already (you know who you are) and I expect these plans to happen!! And I’m still waiting for my wellies from Steely! I will not forget!!! I will try to keep birding (coz I’ve really enjoyed it) and I may even have a look at some butterflies (coz they are kinda pretty, despite being evil). I really enjoyed my little beach party bbq thing and I hope all the guys did too! I will miss everyone and island life and the birds lots and lots and lots!
In other news, we've had a juvenile White-tailed Eagle on the Farnes for the past few days, which is awesome! He's so massive! He's one that's been released from up in Scotland, so he's got big yellow tags on his wings and a radio tracker and stuff, so not entirely wild unfortuntely, but still awesome! There was also a leucistic (albino) Shag found on Brownsman, which was pretty mental! But it didn't hang around for long unfortunately. For awesome photos and lots of info on all the birds seen on the islands, and for details on the general everyday life of the wardens, check out the Farne Islands official blog at http://farnephoto.blogspot.com/
Hope everyone enjoys their time left on the islands! xx
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
August - Part 1
I realised today that I haven’t updated the blog for quite a while now! So much has happened in the past few weeks that I’m never going to be able to remember it all, but I’ll try my best to remember all the important information.
So, first things first – where am I? Still on the Farnes! Steely was happy for me to stay on during August as a volunteer, so I’m here till the end of August, or until I find a paid job, which will hopefully happen – I need a job to do over the winter so I can have money! Which is the downside of being a volunteer really - I’m doing all the same work as I was doing before, but now I’m not paid, so I’m spending all the money I’ve saved from my wages! But I’m still spending less money here than I would be at home, and I’m gaining valuable experience, so it’s all good!
So what about the seal contract? At the end of July, Steely told each of us individually whether or not we were successful in getting the seal contract. There were 5 places in total, so it was obvious that Steely and the 2 Senior Wardens (Jason and David) were going to get places. That left only 2 spots and 8 Wardens wanting to work with the seals! Unfortunately, I was not one of those 2, simply because there were other Wardens that are better than me at the job! In the end it was Jamie and Graeme who got the places, so congratulations to them! I’m incredibly jealous, but I hope they really enjoy it.
So what am I doing over the winter? Well, I’m going to Mauritius! For three weeks! In October! With Tahnia! And it’s going to be awesome! The flights are all booked and paid for, so now I just need to figure out where I want to go, and buy a book on Mauritian birds so I actually know what I’m looking at! I’m incredibly excited about it all and really looking forward to it, despite how poor it’s making me! Apart from that, I don’t have any plans for the winter time. I really hope I can find a job, preferably one in conservation (that way I’ll actually enjoy it) and preferably one that’s paid, so I can afford this holiday! Unfortunately, jobs like these seem to be few and far between, but I’m applying for the ones I find, so I’m hopeful.
So what’s been going on on the Farnes? Not a lot. Apart from a few Shags and the odd Kittiwake, all of the breeding birds and their offspring have left the islands (excluding Mallards and Pigeons, which are still breeding, but nobody’s too interested in seeing them for some reason). However, we are getting lots of other birds passing through, especially lots of warblers, as well as a few rarities as well! We recently had a Melodious Warbler on Brownsman (the first one to be seen on the Farnes, and in Northumberland!) and a Thrush Nightingale on Longstone (only the 2nd record for the Farnes). So everybody here was very happy (whereas I didn’t really know what I was looking at)! Steely’s a bit annoyed though as he’s been on holiday for the past couple of weeks and didn’t get to see either of the birds!
Think that’s about all for now, see you all soon!
So, first things first – where am I? Still on the Farnes! Steely was happy for me to stay on during August as a volunteer, so I’m here till the end of August, or until I find a paid job, which will hopefully happen – I need a job to do over the winter so I can have money! Which is the downside of being a volunteer really - I’m doing all the same work as I was doing before, but now I’m not paid, so I’m spending all the money I’ve saved from my wages! But I’m still spending less money here than I would be at home, and I’m gaining valuable experience, so it’s all good!
So what about the seal contract? At the end of July, Steely told each of us individually whether or not we were successful in getting the seal contract. There were 5 places in total, so it was obvious that Steely and the 2 Senior Wardens (Jason and David) were going to get places. That left only 2 spots and 8 Wardens wanting to work with the seals! Unfortunately, I was not one of those 2, simply because there were other Wardens that are better than me at the job! In the end it was Jamie and Graeme who got the places, so congratulations to them! I’m incredibly jealous, but I hope they really enjoy it.
So what am I doing over the winter? Well, I’m going to Mauritius! For three weeks! In October! With Tahnia! And it’s going to be awesome! The flights are all booked and paid for, so now I just need to figure out where I want to go, and buy a book on Mauritian birds so I actually know what I’m looking at! I’m incredibly excited about it all and really looking forward to it, despite how poor it’s making me! Apart from that, I don’t have any plans for the winter time. I really hope I can find a job, preferably one in conservation (that way I’ll actually enjoy it) and preferably one that’s paid, so I can afford this holiday! Unfortunately, jobs like these seem to be few and far between, but I’m applying for the ones I find, so I’m hopeful.
So what’s been going on on the Farnes? Not a lot. Apart from a few Shags and the odd Kittiwake, all of the breeding birds and their offspring have left the islands (excluding Mallards and Pigeons, which are still breeding, but nobody’s too interested in seeing them for some reason). However, we are getting lots of other birds passing through, especially lots of warblers, as well as a few rarities as well! We recently had a Melodious Warbler on Brownsman (the first one to be seen on the Farnes, and in Northumberland!) and a Thrush Nightingale on Longstone (only the 2nd record for the Farnes). So everybody here was very happy (whereas I didn’t really know what I was looking at)! Steely’s a bit annoyed though as he’s been on holiday for the past couple of weeks and didn’t get to see either of the birds!
Think that’s about all for now, see you all soon!
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
More photos!
Here are some of the photos from the new camera that my dad bought me so that I could get some good photos while I was here. I haven't put very many on here, as the photo uploader is quite slow, but here is a selection!
Countryfile filming on Inner Farne
A view of the National Trust Little Tern colony at Low Newton
The Farnes team at the Little Tern colony with 2 of the 3 wardens that live and work there
Guillemots with their chicks at the Quarry cliff on Inner Farne
Waves coming over the top of the Quarry cliff during a big storm
All of us and the boatmen on the fishing trip
Razorbills (my favourites!) at Lighthouse cliff on Inner Farne
2 adult Common Terns in flight about to attack me for getting too close to their nest (which is next to the path!)
Matt, Graeme, Michael and me holding Puffin chicks that got trapped in one of the buildings
A female Red-Breasted Merganser on her nest - she had 8 chicks!
Jason, Me, Mark and Graeme at the top of Longstone lighthouse (it was sheer chance that we got to go up it!)
That's all of the photos that I'm putting on here for now (it really is a lot of effort) but there are many more on my Facebook page, if you can access it (not sure if you'll be able to). Here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/album.php?aid=172659&id=517753245
Me holding an adult Puffin on nest count day
A Puffin on the roof with a massive Sandeel in it's mouth!
Countryfile filming on Inner Farne
A view of the National Trust Little Tern colony at Low Newton
The Farnes team at the Little Tern colony with 2 of the 3 wardens that live and work there
Guillemots with their chicks at the Quarry cliff on Inner Farne
Waves coming over the top of the Quarry cliff during a big storm
All of us and the boatmen on the fishing trip
Razorbills (my favourites!) at Lighthouse cliff on Inner Farne
2 adult Common Terns in flight about to attack me for getting too close to their nest (which is next to the path!)
Matt, Graeme, Michael and me holding Puffin chicks that got trapped in one of the buildings
A female Red-Breasted Merganser on her nest - she had 8 chicks!
Longstone lighthouse (where Grace Darling lived)
The view from the top of the lighthouse looking out over Brownsman and Inner Farne
Jason, Me, Mark and Graeme at the top of Longstone lighthouse (it was sheer chance that we got to go up it!)
That's all of the photos that I'm putting on here for now (it really is a lot of effort) but there are many more on my Facebook page, if you can access it (not sure if you'll be able to). Here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/album.php?aid=172659&id=517753245The top 5 stories from the past few weeks
Here are the top 5 stories from the past few weeks. I've almost certainly forgotten lots of stuff, but there's not much I can do about that really, so enjoy!
Brownsman
Last year, Steely switched 2 Inner Farne wardens for 2 Brownsman wardens, in order to mix up the teams a bit, and to give people experience working on both islands. It worked really well last year, so Steely decided to give it a go again this year. So last week me and Graeme from Inner Farne switched with Wez and Matt from Brownsman. There are many differences between the 2 islands, the key ones being that there are only 5 of us here (when all of us are here), as opposed to the 7 of us on Inner Farne (including the 2 research students). So it’s a lot quieter and there is a much more relaxed atmosphere, which is a nice change, although I do miss the lifestyle on Inner Farne sometimes! But less people doesn’t mean less fun! Also, this island is a lot more birdy. Jason (the Senior Warden on this island) is a big birdwatcher. He was here last year so he knows a lot about all of the birds here, and he got a restricted C bird ringing permit, which means he can ring all the seabirds he likes. Then there’s Mark, who is also an awesome bird watcher and who has a full C permit, so he can ring everything but seabirds (and has done some cool things, like ringing hummingbirds!). So I get to do lots of bird ringing on this island, which I really enjoy, and I also get the opportunity to learn lots about birds from their big juicy brains!! At the moment, I’m trying to learn to identify waders, which is proving to be very difficult. I can ID them when they’re close by, but that rarely happens. Most of the time we see waders it’s from afar, so I need to learn to ID them by size, shape etc. and I need all the help I can get! Another good point about living on Brownsman is that you work on a different island. We live on Brownsman, but we work on Staple Island, and we do visitor work in the morning rather than the afternoon, which I quite like!
August
Unfortunately for me, my time here is almost up. My contract runs out at the end of July, and I haven’t found another job for when I finish here. There is a chance that I’ll be asked to stay on and work with the Grey Seals, which I would really love to do but I feel that it’s unlikely to happen, as I think that the people here on the 6 month contract will be offered the position first and I don’t see why anyone would turn down an opportunity like that! But we should be finding out soon who’s going to be staying on for that and I will blog about it as soon as I find out! However, as August and the time for me to leave the best job I’ve had draws ever closer, I came up with a brilliant idea! Why don’t I stay here! I’ve asked Steely if it would be ok for me to stay on here in August. I wouldn’t be paid during August if I were to stay on but it would give me more time to look for a job over the winter, and I would be gaining more experience as I do so! I need to talk to Steely about it as nothing is official yet, but I’m hoping that I’ll be able to stay here. Either way, I want to come back next year, so I only need to find a job until March 2011. Wish me luck!
Birds
Most of the birds here are leaving as you read this! The Eiders were the first to go. No more left now, but we see them all quite frequently whenever we go to Seahouses, as they all hang around in the harbour there. There are no more Guillemots around anymore apart from the odd one or two hanging around on the cliffs, but for the most part, they’re long gone. The Razorbills too have mostly disappeared, which upsets me quite a bit, as they were my favourite! There are still a couple left with chicks though, which is good! There are still a good number of Kittiwake chicks hanging around, although they’re all ready to fledge now really, so in the next couple of weeks they’ll all be gone too. Same story with the Shags really, although they might be around a little bit longer and some chicks are still quite fluffy. The Arctic, Common and Sandwich Terns all have big chicks now, which are getting ready to fledge soon as well! Most of them can fly so I reckon they’ll be gone in the next few weeks as well. The Puffins are already mostly gone! Almost all of the Puffins have chicks now, which are either ready to fledge, or have already fledged. There are still some young chicks, so the Puffins will be around a bit longer, but again in the next couple of weeks they’ll have gone too. Pretty soon there’s going to be nothing left! But we’ll get a lot more birds coming through here on their migrations, which is why I want to stay on really! It also means I’ll get to see the last few birds leave!
Recreation
There have been quite a few recreational activities happening of late! All of the wardens (apart from Steely) and the 2 research students went on a trip out to Newcastle one night last week to celebrate several people’s birthdays, which was really fun! It’s been quite a while since any of us went out anywhere, so I think it was a very enjoyable night for all involved! The only part that wasn’t fun was the next day! We all stayed over at Jamie’s house in Newcastle (as he still has his University house), which involved sleeping on sofas and floors…not so comfortable! Luckily for me, it was my day off the next day, so I didn’t have to get up too early to get back for work. However, it did mean that me and Tom (it was his day off as well) had to get the bus back from Newcastle to Seahouses (a 2 and a half hour journey) as there weren’t enough spaces in the cars for all of us. Tomorrow, we are all (possibly) going bowling for another birthday celebration, but this is not yet confirmed, we might just go to the pub instead I think. Also, on the 28th July we are all going paintballing with the boatmen! I’m really looking forward to it as I’ve never been before, but I’m also scared as I’m told it hurts quite a bit! It’s going to be really fun though! Unfortunately though, the research students will have left by then, which is bad because Anna goes shooting, so she would have been an awesome person to stick with! Also, due to weather conditions, the Brownsman team (which in this case includes me) went over to Inner Farne to have a more lively evening, and got stuck on the island for a few days! It was really good fun though, we played rounder’s and quick cricket (both of which I was terrible at) and did foolish things like making a human pyramid!! So again, lots of fun was had by all. But (again) this involved sleeping on the floor. This time at least we had mattresses to sleep on, including me, as I had to give someone else my bed when I moved over to Brownsman.
Weather
The weather has generally been crap for the past week or so, with strong winds and spring tides causing problems once again. We’ve also seen a lot more rain recently than we have the rest of the time that I’ve been here really! We keep getting massive downpours of rain, which has good and bad points really. It means we can’t really get off the islands, as it’s very hard to see where you’re going in the rain, but the rain has started to re-fill the ponds on both islands, so hopefully, we’ll see more birds around them now! The rain is quite bad for the Puffins though, as too much will flood their burrows, but we haven’t had a lot of that yet, so we’re hoping the rain doesn’t continue in this way. Had some sunshine, but not as much as I would like! Let’s hope that we get more!
Thanks for reading, hopefully I’ll see you all soon!
Brownsman
Last year, Steely switched 2 Inner Farne wardens for 2 Brownsman wardens, in order to mix up the teams a bit, and to give people experience working on both islands. It worked really well last year, so Steely decided to give it a go again this year. So last week me and Graeme from Inner Farne switched with Wez and Matt from Brownsman. There are many differences between the 2 islands, the key ones being that there are only 5 of us here (when all of us are here), as opposed to the 7 of us on Inner Farne (including the 2 research students). So it’s a lot quieter and there is a much more relaxed atmosphere, which is a nice change, although I do miss the lifestyle on Inner Farne sometimes! But less people doesn’t mean less fun! Also, this island is a lot more birdy. Jason (the Senior Warden on this island) is a big birdwatcher. He was here last year so he knows a lot about all of the birds here, and he got a restricted C bird ringing permit, which means he can ring all the seabirds he likes. Then there’s Mark, who is also an awesome bird watcher and who has a full C permit, so he can ring everything but seabirds (and has done some cool things, like ringing hummingbirds!). So I get to do lots of bird ringing on this island, which I really enjoy, and I also get the opportunity to learn lots about birds from their big juicy brains!! At the moment, I’m trying to learn to identify waders, which is proving to be very difficult. I can ID them when they’re close by, but that rarely happens. Most of the time we see waders it’s from afar, so I need to learn to ID them by size, shape etc. and I need all the help I can get! Another good point about living on Brownsman is that you work on a different island. We live on Brownsman, but we work on Staple Island, and we do visitor work in the morning rather than the afternoon, which I quite like!
August
Unfortunately for me, my time here is almost up. My contract runs out at the end of July, and I haven’t found another job for when I finish here. There is a chance that I’ll be asked to stay on and work with the Grey Seals, which I would really love to do but I feel that it’s unlikely to happen, as I think that the people here on the 6 month contract will be offered the position first and I don’t see why anyone would turn down an opportunity like that! But we should be finding out soon who’s going to be staying on for that and I will blog about it as soon as I find out! However, as August and the time for me to leave the best job I’ve had draws ever closer, I came up with a brilliant idea! Why don’t I stay here! I’ve asked Steely if it would be ok for me to stay on here in August. I wouldn’t be paid during August if I were to stay on but it would give me more time to look for a job over the winter, and I would be gaining more experience as I do so! I need to talk to Steely about it as nothing is official yet, but I’m hoping that I’ll be able to stay here. Either way, I want to come back next year, so I only need to find a job until March 2011. Wish me luck!
Birds
Most of the birds here are leaving as you read this! The Eiders were the first to go. No more left now, but we see them all quite frequently whenever we go to Seahouses, as they all hang around in the harbour there. There are no more Guillemots around anymore apart from the odd one or two hanging around on the cliffs, but for the most part, they’re long gone. The Razorbills too have mostly disappeared, which upsets me quite a bit, as they were my favourite! There are still a couple left with chicks though, which is good! There are still a good number of Kittiwake chicks hanging around, although they’re all ready to fledge now really, so in the next couple of weeks they’ll all be gone too. Same story with the Shags really, although they might be around a little bit longer and some chicks are still quite fluffy. The Arctic, Common and Sandwich Terns all have big chicks now, which are getting ready to fledge soon as well! Most of them can fly so I reckon they’ll be gone in the next few weeks as well. The Puffins are already mostly gone! Almost all of the Puffins have chicks now, which are either ready to fledge, or have already fledged. There are still some young chicks, so the Puffins will be around a bit longer, but again in the next couple of weeks they’ll have gone too. Pretty soon there’s going to be nothing left! But we’ll get a lot more birds coming through here on their migrations, which is why I want to stay on really! It also means I’ll get to see the last few birds leave!
Recreation
There have been quite a few recreational activities happening of late! All of the wardens (apart from Steely) and the 2 research students went on a trip out to Newcastle one night last week to celebrate several people’s birthdays, which was really fun! It’s been quite a while since any of us went out anywhere, so I think it was a very enjoyable night for all involved! The only part that wasn’t fun was the next day! We all stayed over at Jamie’s house in Newcastle (as he still has his University house), which involved sleeping on sofas and floors…not so comfortable! Luckily for me, it was my day off the next day, so I didn’t have to get up too early to get back for work. However, it did mean that me and Tom (it was his day off as well) had to get the bus back from Newcastle to Seahouses (a 2 and a half hour journey) as there weren’t enough spaces in the cars for all of us. Tomorrow, we are all (possibly) going bowling for another birthday celebration, but this is not yet confirmed, we might just go to the pub instead I think. Also, on the 28th July we are all going paintballing with the boatmen! I’m really looking forward to it as I’ve never been before, but I’m also scared as I’m told it hurts quite a bit! It’s going to be really fun though! Unfortunately though, the research students will have left by then, which is bad because Anna goes shooting, so she would have been an awesome person to stick with! Also, due to weather conditions, the Brownsman team (which in this case includes me) went over to Inner Farne to have a more lively evening, and got stuck on the island for a few days! It was really good fun though, we played rounder’s and quick cricket (both of which I was terrible at) and did foolish things like making a human pyramid!! So again, lots of fun was had by all. But (again) this involved sleeping on the floor. This time at least we had mattresses to sleep on, including me, as I had to give someone else my bed when I moved over to Brownsman.
Weather
The weather has generally been crap for the past week or so, with strong winds and spring tides causing problems once again. We’ve also seen a lot more rain recently than we have the rest of the time that I’ve been here really! We keep getting massive downpours of rain, which has good and bad points really. It means we can’t really get off the islands, as it’s very hard to see where you’re going in the rain, but the rain has started to re-fill the ponds on both islands, so hopefully, we’ll see more birds around them now! The rain is quite bad for the Puffins though, as too much will flood their burrows, but we haven’t had a lot of that yet, so we’re hoping the rain doesn’t continue in this way. Had some sunshine, but not as much as I would like! Let’s hope that we get more!
Thanks for reading, hopefully I’ll see you all soon!
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
The News in Brief
I realised a couple of days ago that I haven't written a blog entry for quite a while now. Not too sure how long its been, as time moves really strangely here and I'm never quite sure what day it is or what the date is, but I know its been a while. Therefore, I have decided to list some of the more recent happenings of the Farne Islands. So here is the News in Brief... (in no particular order).
Nest Counts
We finished the nest count on Inner Farne a short time ago. It took us much longer than it has in previous years as we started much later and were kind of slow whilst doing it, and so we couldn't get it all done in one day. The weather then prevented us from finishing it for quite while, but eventually we managed to do it! So we have now counted all of the nests of all of the ground-nesting birds on the island. Not sure of the results yet though.
Cliff Counts
Cliff counts have also taken a very long time. But this is really because our boat engine was broken for a long time so we couldn't go out and count the cliff nesting birds. When the engine was fixed, bad weather struck, so again we couldn't do them. But more recently the weathers been ok! Therefore, we now only have one more cliff count to do, which will take place tommorow morning if the weather remains good!
'Jumpers'
The only problem with doing cliff counts so late in the year (about 2 weeks later than we should have done them) is that many of the Guillemot chicks are no longer there. When the chicks are old enough the parents fly to the sea, leaving their chick on top of the cliff on its own. They then stay in the water below the cliff and call to the chick until it jumps off! Most of the time they hit the water, but the occasional one hits a ledge of rock and has to jump from ledge to ledge (it's pretty funny!). This means that many of the Guillemots we should be counting are now out of sea with their chicks, and more are leaving every day! Which may mean that out Guillemot population will appear to be down this year, although it won't really be.
Chicks
Almost all of the species on the island now have chicks. Shags have been on chicks for a long time now, as have Kittiwakes and Black-Headed Gulls. Most of the Sandwich Terns have chicks, as do the Arctic Terns. There are more and more Eider ducks leaving with their chicks every day now, so there are very few left on their nests. Common Terns are also on chicks, but as far as I know Fulmars are still on eggs.
Chapel Chick
Speaking of chicks, there are some that have very odd habits. There is one Arctic Tern chick that has made the Chapel its home. During the day and for most of the evening it stays in the Chapel and hides under the pews to avoid being trampled by the visitors. In the mornings and during quiet periods the adults fly into the chapel with Sandeels to feed to it! It's pretty cool, but it does mean that the Chapel floor is covered in quite a lot of poop, and we've had to put up signs to warn visitors of its presence!
Chick protection and Veg. clearance
Many of the Arctic Tern chicks are now getting to the stage where they're big enough to run around, which they do frequently. They like to hide in the vegetation when their parents are away, but as soon as they hear the adult calling, they run onto bare ground so that their parents can see them. Unfortunately, this has resulted in many chicks running onto the path, which obviously causes trampling issues. To prevent this from happening, we have spent many morning ripping up the vegetation 1.5 feet either side of the paths in the areas where Terns are nesting, so that the chicks will move further back into the remaining vegetation and stop going onto the path. In addition to this, we have made several 'chick protection boards' from old wood to fence them in a bit, to draw peoples attention to the fact that they're there, and to make sure that they don't get accidentally trodden on. It's working so far!
Bird Ringing
Done lots of ringing recently as the ringer that comes out here said that if I'm good enough and do lots of ringing with him, he'll give me a 'Restricted C Permit' which means I'll be able to ring certain species of birds when he's not there, which is a really awesome thing to have here! We were ringing Arctic Tern adults and chicks and Sandwich Tern chicks, but I also got to ring a Puffin which was awesome!
Birds in Buildings
We've had a lot of birds coming into the buildings recently! A Shag was found hanging around in the Gents toilets, a Puffin was in the Ladies toilets, we had 3 Puffins and a Pigeon in the cellar, and 2 juvenile Pied Wagtails in the Information Centre! We managed to remove them all safely though! :)
Stormy Days
Had a few very windy days recently. And by windy I mean 25mph winds! Which caused some very rough seas, the worst being 11.5ft swell! The windyness was both good and bad. It meant we could have some late mornings, which is always appreciated, and it meant that the birds weren't disturbed by visitors. However, it did mean that many of the Arctic Tern chicks died, as the parents were unable to feed, and it's the cause for all of the birds in buildings. In addition to this, many Kittiwake nests got washed away (including the young chicks in them), and we had several other birds that got very wet and unable to fly, which we had to rescue and put in a box in front of the fire to dry out. All of which were successful, which is good. The rough seas and strong winds also prevented me from getting out to see Chris, which sucked a lot as I'm not sure when I'll get to see him now. I'm seeing my dad in early July, and I'm now just hoping the same thing won't happen then!
The Tides of Spring
The storm wasn't really helped by the spring tides that we've had recently. Spring tides are when the difference between high tide and low tide is very large. So we've had very high high tides and very low low tides. (The opposite of this is neep tides, where there is very little difference between high and low tides.) The other issue with spring tides is that the very high tides have washed away several Arctic Tern nests and several Ringed Plover nests that were on the beach.
Media Coverage
Lots of TV programmes have been filiming here recently. We had Escape to the Country and Animal 24/7 filming on Brownsman a couple of days ago, so look out for them coming on TV soon! Also, the Countryfile episode that was filmed here recently was shown on BBC1 last Sunday night (20th June), so if you didn't catch it, look it up on BBC iPlayer!
The Social Side
The World Cup has been the main focus for the past couple of weeks really. All of the Wardens and most of the boatmen joined in for the sweepstake (in which I got Germany), which makes watching football more fun! Also, we’re collecting the Panini World Cup stickers for the sticker album (which we took apart and stuck all over the walls! A few days ago, all of the wardens went over to the mainland, as we were going to go and visit a site where we could see some rare birds. Unfortunately, we had boat trouble and were late getting into Seahouses, so we couldn’t go. Instead, we went to visit the National Trust’s colony of breeding Little Terns, which is at a site not too far from here. It was a very nice day and we had a lovely walk on a sandy beach to get there. Yesterday we ran into the Brownsman boys while we were in Seahouses, so we all went for an Indian together and then for a few drinks. Good to see them once in a while! Tommorow night we are all going to go fishing with the Boatmen! They’re going to pick us all up in one of the visitor boats and then we’re going to drive out to sea, have a BBQ, drink some drinks and some people are going to fish…not sure that I want to though, but I’ve never done it before so don’t know what it’s like.
In Other News…
I’ve been driving the Zodiac boat a lot more, which is a good thing really, as it gets me more used to doing it and more used to just being in the boat! Also gives me more hours of driving experience, so it all adds up! Some researchers have been here in the past couple of weeks, looking and the diet of the Grey Seals that we have here. This involves collecting seal poo. A few wardens volunteered for this job, as it is a good thing to have done and to have on your CV, but I was not one of them! It has been decided that David is now the Senior Warden on Inner Farne, so when Steely (Head Warden) isn’t here, David motivates us to actually do some work! Also, I need flip flops! I’ve decided that many activities here would be much easier to do if I was wearing flip flops instead of walking boots, as it doesn’t matter if flip flops get wet. Unfortunately though, I can’t find any size 5 flip flops in Seahouses. However, I don’t want to get my boots wet, so today (since I was helping the boats during visitor hours – a job where I always get soaked), I walked around barefoot. It was pretty good actually! I didn’t care about getting wet, and it was a hot sunny day so I could get away with it.
Well, that’s all I can think of for now. This post ended up being much longer than I’d originally intended, but I had forgotten just how much stuff happens here! Still enjoying it, looking forward to seeing friends and family soon!
Nest Counts
We finished the nest count on Inner Farne a short time ago. It took us much longer than it has in previous years as we started much later and were kind of slow whilst doing it, and so we couldn't get it all done in one day. The weather then prevented us from finishing it for quite while, but eventually we managed to do it! So we have now counted all of the nests of all of the ground-nesting birds on the island. Not sure of the results yet though.
Cliff Counts
Cliff counts have also taken a very long time. But this is really because our boat engine was broken for a long time so we couldn't go out and count the cliff nesting birds. When the engine was fixed, bad weather struck, so again we couldn't do them. But more recently the weathers been ok! Therefore, we now only have one more cliff count to do, which will take place tommorow morning if the weather remains good!
'Jumpers'
The only problem with doing cliff counts so late in the year (about 2 weeks later than we should have done them) is that many of the Guillemot chicks are no longer there. When the chicks are old enough the parents fly to the sea, leaving their chick on top of the cliff on its own. They then stay in the water below the cliff and call to the chick until it jumps off! Most of the time they hit the water, but the occasional one hits a ledge of rock and has to jump from ledge to ledge (it's pretty funny!). This means that many of the Guillemots we should be counting are now out of sea with their chicks, and more are leaving every day! Which may mean that out Guillemot population will appear to be down this year, although it won't really be.
Chicks
Almost all of the species on the island now have chicks. Shags have been on chicks for a long time now, as have Kittiwakes and Black-Headed Gulls. Most of the Sandwich Terns have chicks, as do the Arctic Terns. There are more and more Eider ducks leaving with their chicks every day now, so there are very few left on their nests. Common Terns are also on chicks, but as far as I know Fulmars are still on eggs.
Chapel Chick
Speaking of chicks, there are some that have very odd habits. There is one Arctic Tern chick that has made the Chapel its home. During the day and for most of the evening it stays in the Chapel and hides under the pews to avoid being trampled by the visitors. In the mornings and during quiet periods the adults fly into the chapel with Sandeels to feed to it! It's pretty cool, but it does mean that the Chapel floor is covered in quite a lot of poop, and we've had to put up signs to warn visitors of its presence!
Chick protection and Veg. clearance
Many of the Arctic Tern chicks are now getting to the stage where they're big enough to run around, which they do frequently. They like to hide in the vegetation when their parents are away, but as soon as they hear the adult calling, they run onto bare ground so that their parents can see them. Unfortunately, this has resulted in many chicks running onto the path, which obviously causes trampling issues. To prevent this from happening, we have spent many morning ripping up the vegetation 1.5 feet either side of the paths in the areas where Terns are nesting, so that the chicks will move further back into the remaining vegetation and stop going onto the path. In addition to this, we have made several 'chick protection boards' from old wood to fence them in a bit, to draw peoples attention to the fact that they're there, and to make sure that they don't get accidentally trodden on. It's working so far!
Bird Ringing
Done lots of ringing recently as the ringer that comes out here said that if I'm good enough and do lots of ringing with him, he'll give me a 'Restricted C Permit' which means I'll be able to ring certain species of birds when he's not there, which is a really awesome thing to have here! We were ringing Arctic Tern adults and chicks and Sandwich Tern chicks, but I also got to ring a Puffin which was awesome!
Birds in Buildings
We've had a lot of birds coming into the buildings recently! A Shag was found hanging around in the Gents toilets, a Puffin was in the Ladies toilets, we had 3 Puffins and a Pigeon in the cellar, and 2 juvenile Pied Wagtails in the Information Centre! We managed to remove them all safely though! :)
Stormy Days
Had a few very windy days recently. And by windy I mean 25mph winds! Which caused some very rough seas, the worst being 11.5ft swell! The windyness was both good and bad. It meant we could have some late mornings, which is always appreciated, and it meant that the birds weren't disturbed by visitors. However, it did mean that many of the Arctic Tern chicks died, as the parents were unable to feed, and it's the cause for all of the birds in buildings. In addition to this, many Kittiwake nests got washed away (including the young chicks in them), and we had several other birds that got very wet and unable to fly, which we had to rescue and put in a box in front of the fire to dry out. All of which were successful, which is good. The rough seas and strong winds also prevented me from getting out to see Chris, which sucked a lot as I'm not sure when I'll get to see him now. I'm seeing my dad in early July, and I'm now just hoping the same thing won't happen then!
The Tides of Spring
The storm wasn't really helped by the spring tides that we've had recently. Spring tides are when the difference between high tide and low tide is very large. So we've had very high high tides and very low low tides. (The opposite of this is neep tides, where there is very little difference between high and low tides.) The other issue with spring tides is that the very high tides have washed away several Arctic Tern nests and several Ringed Plover nests that were on the beach.
Media Coverage
Lots of TV programmes have been filiming here recently. We had Escape to the Country and Animal 24/7 filming on Brownsman a couple of days ago, so look out for them coming on TV soon! Also, the Countryfile episode that was filmed here recently was shown on BBC1 last Sunday night (20th June), so if you didn't catch it, look it up on BBC iPlayer!
The Social Side
The World Cup has been the main focus for the past couple of weeks really. All of the Wardens and most of the boatmen joined in for the sweepstake (in which I got Germany), which makes watching football more fun! Also, we’re collecting the Panini World Cup stickers for the sticker album (which we took apart and stuck all over the walls! A few days ago, all of the wardens went over to the mainland, as we were going to go and visit a site where we could see some rare birds. Unfortunately, we had boat trouble and were late getting into Seahouses, so we couldn’t go. Instead, we went to visit the National Trust’s colony of breeding Little Terns, which is at a site not too far from here. It was a very nice day and we had a lovely walk on a sandy beach to get there. Yesterday we ran into the Brownsman boys while we were in Seahouses, so we all went for an Indian together and then for a few drinks. Good to see them once in a while! Tommorow night we are all going to go fishing with the Boatmen! They’re going to pick us all up in one of the visitor boats and then we’re going to drive out to sea, have a BBQ, drink some drinks and some people are going to fish…not sure that I want to though, but I’ve never done it before so don’t know what it’s like.
In Other News…
I’ve been driving the Zodiac boat a lot more, which is a good thing really, as it gets me more used to doing it and more used to just being in the boat! Also gives me more hours of driving experience, so it all adds up! Some researchers have been here in the past couple of weeks, looking and the diet of the Grey Seals that we have here. This involves collecting seal poo. A few wardens volunteered for this job, as it is a good thing to have done and to have on your CV, but I was not one of them! It has been decided that David is now the Senior Warden on Inner Farne, so when Steely (Head Warden) isn’t here, David motivates us to actually do some work! Also, I need flip flops! I’ve decided that many activities here would be much easier to do if I was wearing flip flops instead of walking boots, as it doesn’t matter if flip flops get wet. Unfortunately though, I can’t find any size 5 flip flops in Seahouses. However, I don’t want to get my boots wet, so today (since I was helping the boats during visitor hours – a job where I always get soaked), I walked around barefoot. It was pretty good actually! I didn’t care about getting wet, and it was a hot sunny day so I could get away with it.
Well, that’s all I can think of for now. This post ended up being much longer than I’d originally intended, but I had forgotten just how much stuff happens here! Still enjoying it, looking forward to seeing friends and family soon!
Sunday, 6 June 2010
Cliff Counts and Nest Counts
The past few days have been the busiest so far, as the majority of our time has been taken up with cliff counts and nest counts. Cliff counts involves using the Zodiac boat to go around all of the islands in the Inner Group and count how many nesting pairs of Shags, Kittiwakes, Razorbills, Guillemots and Cormorants there are. This is done over 10 days, with each person counting a different species each day. At the end of the 10 days, everybody wil have counted each species at least once. The highest count and the lowest count for each species are then taken away and an average is taken of those that are left. This average is taken as the total number of that species in the Inner Group. The same is done with the Outer Group of islands, which gives us the total number of breeding birds for each species on the Farne Islands. All of this started for the Inner Group on the 2nd June and involved getting up pretty early to go out and count things. It was pretty good though, as I had Shags, which are one of the easiest ones to count! Guillemots are the hardest as there are about 10,000 of them on the Inner Group alone!
Nest counts started on the 3rd June. Nest counts involves counting every single nest of every single species of bird that nests on the island (apart from those mentioned above). To do this, the whole of the island has to be checked with a fine-toothed comb to ensure that we count every single nest. The Brownsman team had their nest count day on the 3rd June. As nest counts take all day, me, Michael and Jamie had to go over to Staple Island to do their visitor work, and then speed all the way back to Inner Farne to do our visitor work over here! So a very long day all round. Nest counts on Inner Farne started the very next day, so we were all up early again, for a 6am start. we had to rope off all of the island into transects so that we could know for certain that we had covered the entire island. The Brownsman team came over to Inner Farne in the afternoon and did our visitor work for us (as well as doing their own in the morning) so that we could continue with our counts. Unfortunately for us though, we didn't manage to get the whole of the island done in one day, so we continued with counts all of yesterday morning, which I helped with even though it was my day off! I then relaxed in the afternoon while the others did visitor work, and helped with nest counts again in the evening. We still have a small amount of the island that we need to cover, but unfortunately there is alot of fog today, so we can't do it this morning. Hopefully the evening will be better!
For the past few days whilst we've been involved in nest counts, we haven't been able to do any cliff counts, apart from yesterday. Therfore we've only done 2 out of 10, and have many to go! The one this morning had to be cancelled as well as the nest counts, again due to the fog. But hopefull tomoro will be a nicer day so that we can get it all done! During nest counts, I took many photos of cute chicks of many species with my brand new camera that my dad sent to me! So I shall be putting those up on here very soon!
Nest counts started on the 3rd June. Nest counts involves counting every single nest of every single species of bird that nests on the island (apart from those mentioned above). To do this, the whole of the island has to be checked with a fine-toothed comb to ensure that we count every single nest. The Brownsman team had their nest count day on the 3rd June. As nest counts take all day, me, Michael and Jamie had to go over to Staple Island to do their visitor work, and then speed all the way back to Inner Farne to do our visitor work over here! So a very long day all round. Nest counts on Inner Farne started the very next day, so we were all up early again, for a 6am start. we had to rope off all of the island into transects so that we could know for certain that we had covered the entire island. The Brownsman team came over to Inner Farne in the afternoon and did our visitor work for us (as well as doing their own in the morning) so that we could continue with our counts. Unfortunately for us though, we didn't manage to get the whole of the island done in one day, so we continued with counts all of yesterday morning, which I helped with even though it was my day off! I then relaxed in the afternoon while the others did visitor work, and helped with nest counts again in the evening. We still have a small amount of the island that we need to cover, but unfortunately there is alot of fog today, so we can't do it this morning. Hopefully the evening will be better!
For the past few days whilst we've been involved in nest counts, we haven't been able to do any cliff counts, apart from yesterday. Therfore we've only done 2 out of 10, and have many to go! The one this morning had to be cancelled as well as the nest counts, again due to the fog. But hopefull tomoro will be a nicer day so that we can get it all done! During nest counts, I took many photos of cute chicks of many species with my brand new camera that my dad sent to me! So I shall be putting those up on here very soon!
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
Big News!
Big news from the Farnes today! We had pretty strong Southerly winds all day today, and as a results we had a very rare bird fly over the islands! A Black Kite flew over at about 4.30pm today, whilst being mobbed by many many waders. This is the first time this bird has ever been seen on the Farne Islands, as it is pretty rare in England! So a brilliant sighting! A couple of photos were taken by Mark, so I will get them on here asap! In addition to this, we had Midlands Today (a news programme from the Midlands) out here filming live today! Luckily we weren't interviewed or anything, but was good all the same! Apart from that not much has been happening here. This should have been our busiest weekend of the year, but very strong Northerly winds prevented anyone from getting to the islands the entire weekend and stranded us out here, which isn't too good as we're now running out of food a little bit...but we'll be going to Seahouses tomoro if all goes to plan, so not too much of a tragedy. Thats all there is to report at the moment, so here are the photos I've been promising!
An Arctic Tern carrying a very large sandeel in order to attract a mate
The colony of Sandwich Terns
(note the black beak and shaggy crest at the back of the head)
The Sandwich Tern eggs!
A Puffin on the top of the Pele Tower on a nice day
Graeme with an Arctic Tern on his head!
A bucket full of ducks! The 5 Eider chicks that I rescued :)
Me holding one of the Eider ducklings
Dave hanging on for dear life whilst the strong North winds make giant waves in the Kettle (the sheltered bay between Inner Farne and the Wideopens)
A photo to show how bad the waves were out towards Brownsman during the high winds
A Shag with her chicks - which are now very large despite only being a few weeks old!
A close-up of a male Shag
2 Kittiwake chicks nestling close to their mother
A Black-Headed Gull takes her 2 chicks down to the pond for a drink 
Midlands Today filming live from Inner Farne 
One of the first Arctic Terns to nest showing off her 2 eggs
An Arctic Tern carrying a very large sandeel in order to attract a mate
The colony of Sandwich Terns
(note the black beak and shaggy crest at the back of the head)
The Sandwich Tern eggs!
A Puffin on the top of the Pele Tower on a nice day
Graeme with an Arctic Tern on his head!
A bucket full of ducks! The 5 Eider chicks that I rescued :)
Me holding one of the Eider ducklings
Dave hanging on for dear life whilst the strong North winds make giant waves in the Kettle (the sheltered bay between Inner Farne and the Wideopens)
A photo to show how bad the waves were out towards Brownsman during the high winds
A Shag with her chicks - which are now very large despite only being a few weeks old!
A close-up of a male Shag
2 Kittiwake chicks nestling close to their mother
A Black-Headed Gull takes her 2 chicks down to the pond for a drink 
Midlands Today filming live from Inner Farne 
Saturday, 29 May 2010
A very eventful week
This past week has been a very eventful one! It's my day off again today, and I've got every Saturday off now until I leave. The ringing team were back this morning, and we did some ringing of both Arctic Terns and Eiders. I really like Eiders, but ringing them was not fun. They poo alot, and its unbelievably stinky and gets everwhere!! Not very nice, but was a good experience all the same. Currently there are visitors on the island, so I don't have much to do at the moment, but I have no idea whats going to be happening later tonight.
For the past 2 days me, Graeme, Jamie and Wez have been in Amble learning how to drive the Zodiac boats! So now we are all officially able to drive them around whenever we need to...I'm a bit nervous about it all though! The boat course ran from 12-8 both days, most of which time was spent getting actual experience driving 2 different powerboats! It was a really fun course, but I think I need more practice driving the Zodiacs! The 2 research students from Newcastle Uni arrived on Thursday as well, but I've only really had today to talk with them, as I was on the boat course. They are both carrying out research for their MSc projects. One of them is looking at the effect of disturbance on Puffin chicks, and the other is looking at the effects of disturbance on Arctic Tern chicks. They are both girls and will be here for the next 2 months, so I'll have some female company while everyone else is obsessed with the world cup!
In other news, I rescued 5 Eider chicks from certain doom, which was quite nice! The mother ran off and left them all in the nest. We waited for 2 hours but sadly she didn't return, and it was beginning to turn cold. So we Scooped them and the nest into a bucket and tried to find another Eider with chicks, as they will take in the chicks of other Eiders and look after them, forming 'creches' of chicks. Unfortunately though we couldn't find another Eider with chicks, so took the bucket into the living room for a while and kept them warm and looked after them :) We did eventually find another mother Eider though, so I grabbed bucket and chicks and hurried to find her. I set the chicks down as near to her as I could get and they immediately started calling to her. The Eider started to call back to them, and one by one they all jumped into the water and swam over to her. She took them all in perfectly fine and they all went off together. (Photos of chicks to follow in next post!) Hope all is well where you are
For the past 2 days me, Graeme, Jamie and Wez have been in Amble learning how to drive the Zodiac boats! So now we are all officially able to drive them around whenever we need to...I'm a bit nervous about it all though! The boat course ran from 12-8 both days, most of which time was spent getting actual experience driving 2 different powerboats! It was a really fun course, but I think I need more practice driving the Zodiacs! The 2 research students from Newcastle Uni arrived on Thursday as well, but I've only really had today to talk with them, as I was on the boat course. They are both carrying out research for their MSc projects. One of them is looking at the effect of disturbance on Puffin chicks, and the other is looking at the effects of disturbance on Arctic Tern chicks. They are both girls and will be here for the next 2 months, so I'll have some female company while everyone else is obsessed with the world cup!
In other news, I rescued 5 Eider chicks from certain doom, which was quite nice! The mother ran off and left them all in the nest. We waited for 2 hours but sadly she didn't return, and it was beginning to turn cold. So we Scooped them and the nest into a bucket and tried to find another Eider with chicks, as they will take in the chicks of other Eiders and look after them, forming 'creches' of chicks. Unfortunately though we couldn't find another Eider with chicks, so took the bucket into the living room for a while and kept them warm and looked after them :) We did eventually find another mother Eider though, so I grabbed bucket and chicks and hurried to find her. I set the chicks down as near to her as I could get and they immediately started calling to her. The Eider started to call back to them, and one by one they all jumped into the water and swam over to her. She took them all in perfectly fine and they all went off together. (Photos of chicks to follow in next post!) Hope all is well where you are
Sunday, 23 May 2010
The week gone by...
Haven't done a post this week...as far as I can remember anyways. The days all sort of merge into one here, so some of the days/dates in this entry might be a bit off! Just a short entry on the highlights of this week though. Also, I have some more photos to add, but can't be bothered to do them right now.
Wednesday 19th
In the morning, we all went to the West Wideopens (an island in the inner group, very close to Inner Farne). Had to get up pretty early for this one, as we were going 'egging'. Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-Backed Gulls are the main predators here, as they will take both eggs and chicks of all of the other birds on the island. There are a few exceptions to this though, for example Puffins nest in burrows, and because of this the gulls aren't able to get at the eggs. Also, many of the Arctic Terns are protected from predation by gulls as they nest very close to the pathways or in areas where there are often lots of people, such as outside the Pele Tower. The gulls don't come to these places, as the presence of humans scares them off. However, the gulls will take the eggs and chicks of Eiders, Shags, Kittiwakes, Guillemots, Razorbills and anything else they can get to if given half a chance. Therefore, we stop them doing this by reducing their numbers (which requires a special licence). So, we all went over to the West Wideopens and spent the morning walking all over the islands in search of gull eggs, which we then smashed. It's not very nice, especially since some are more developed than others, but it needs to be done in order to protect the rarer species (comments on this matter are welcome). Eventful morning, but the afternoon was just spent working as normal.
Thursday 20th
Can't remember what happened in the morning...although actually I think this was the morning that 2 of the team went over to help the guys on Staple Island, who were short staffed. It was an extremely hot day here, and me and Michael spent the morning putting up posts around Arctic Tern eggs to protect them from trampling feet, fixing the boardwalk, and talking to a group of people doing a Marine Biology course, who had permission to come to the island in the morning. One of these days we went to Seahouses in the evening for showers and we also got some takeaway Indian food which was nice, but can't remember which day that was!
Friday 21st
Again Staple Island needed help, so Wez went over to them in the morning (I got to drive the Zodiac in fog!). The rest of us spent the morning doing general maintenance and talking to news reporters as Midlands Today came out to the Farnes to film for a story about protecting our coastlines, which should be on in about 2 weeks time! :) The afternoon was spent doing visitor work, I was in the Information Centre all day, but only managed to get 1 membership.
Saturday 22nd
Was going to do some more of my bird monitoring, which I really need to get done, but there i a guy here that does bird ringing and who is a ringing trainer, who we found was coming out to do some ringing of Arctic Terns with us! In case anybody reading this doesn't know, bird ringing is when you catch birds, take their measurements (such as weight, wing length, and in this case, length of tail streamers and head length), and then put a metal ring around the leg of the bird. Each ring has a unique number engraved on it so that each bird can be individually recognised. So, we caught Arctic Terns (well, Chris - the ringing trainer - did) and we released them. Turns out that I've done more ringing than the other guys, so I was the only one to actually ring and take the measurements of an Arctic Tern which was pretty cool! A new entry for my ringing book :) Also, Chris is able to give out other levels of ringing permits (I'm currently a trainee), so hopefully I'll be able to get a restricted 'C' permit! This will allow me to ring some seabirds without direct supervision, although I'll still be accountable to Chris for everything. Would be awesome if I could get one! Also, the newest addition to the Inner Farne warden team, Jamie, arrived today! He stayed in the lighthouse Saturday night, as there wasn't room in the tower.
Sunday 23rd (today)
My day off!! Yay! Was going to go to Seahouses early, but there was a fog so couldn't get over. Instead I monitored my Eiders in the morning (one of them had 4 chicks!) and got pooed on alot by both Common Terns and Black-Headed Gulls (including in my hair - not happy). After finishing all of that, the fog had lifted a bit, so got dropped in Seahouses, had a shower, bought some food, had an ice cream and got on a boat back. Once I got back here I made fairy cakes (finally!) and lounged around a bit. There was a storm at about 4.30pm but it soon cleared. The evening was just spent socialising and watching TV really! So not a very productive day, but relaxing at least...wel sort of! Dave and Michael dropped Wez off on Brownsman this evening, and he's going to remain over ther for the rest of the time now, as they needed an extra warden, and Jamie needed a bed! Sad to see him go though, I think we all got on really well as a team, but I'm sure he'll be just as happy over there, and that we'll all get on with Jamie as well as we did with Wez!
That's all for now, will be monitoring Shags and Kittiwakes tommorrow and need to start on Arctic Terns very soon! Also got an Oystercatcher nest to monitor :) Hope all is well xx
Wednesday 19th
In the morning, we all went to the West Wideopens (an island in the inner group, very close to Inner Farne). Had to get up pretty early for this one, as we were going 'egging'. Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-Backed Gulls are the main predators here, as they will take both eggs and chicks of all of the other birds on the island. There are a few exceptions to this though, for example Puffins nest in burrows, and because of this the gulls aren't able to get at the eggs. Also, many of the Arctic Terns are protected from predation by gulls as they nest very close to the pathways or in areas where there are often lots of people, such as outside the Pele Tower. The gulls don't come to these places, as the presence of humans scares them off. However, the gulls will take the eggs and chicks of Eiders, Shags, Kittiwakes, Guillemots, Razorbills and anything else they can get to if given half a chance. Therefore, we stop them doing this by reducing their numbers (which requires a special licence). So, we all went over to the West Wideopens and spent the morning walking all over the islands in search of gull eggs, which we then smashed. It's not very nice, especially since some are more developed than others, but it needs to be done in order to protect the rarer species (comments on this matter are welcome). Eventful morning, but the afternoon was just spent working as normal.
Thursday 20th
Can't remember what happened in the morning...although actually I think this was the morning that 2 of the team went over to help the guys on Staple Island, who were short staffed. It was an extremely hot day here, and me and Michael spent the morning putting up posts around Arctic Tern eggs to protect them from trampling feet, fixing the boardwalk, and talking to a group of people doing a Marine Biology course, who had permission to come to the island in the morning. One of these days we went to Seahouses in the evening for showers and we also got some takeaway Indian food which was nice, but can't remember which day that was!
Friday 21st
Again Staple Island needed help, so Wez went over to them in the morning (I got to drive the Zodiac in fog!). The rest of us spent the morning doing general maintenance and talking to news reporters as Midlands Today came out to the Farnes to film for a story about protecting our coastlines, which should be on in about 2 weeks time! :) The afternoon was spent doing visitor work, I was in the Information Centre all day, but only managed to get 1 membership.
Saturday 22nd
Was going to do some more of my bird monitoring, which I really need to get done, but there i a guy here that does bird ringing and who is a ringing trainer, who we found was coming out to do some ringing of Arctic Terns with us! In case anybody reading this doesn't know, bird ringing is when you catch birds, take their measurements (such as weight, wing length, and in this case, length of tail streamers and head length), and then put a metal ring around the leg of the bird. Each ring has a unique number engraved on it so that each bird can be individually recognised. So, we caught Arctic Terns (well, Chris - the ringing trainer - did) and we released them. Turns out that I've done more ringing than the other guys, so I was the only one to actually ring and take the measurements of an Arctic Tern which was pretty cool! A new entry for my ringing book :) Also, Chris is able to give out other levels of ringing permits (I'm currently a trainee), so hopefully I'll be able to get a restricted 'C' permit! This will allow me to ring some seabirds without direct supervision, although I'll still be accountable to Chris for everything. Would be awesome if I could get one! Also, the newest addition to the Inner Farne warden team, Jamie, arrived today! He stayed in the lighthouse Saturday night, as there wasn't room in the tower.
Sunday 23rd (today)
My day off!! Yay! Was going to go to Seahouses early, but there was a fog so couldn't get over. Instead I monitored my Eiders in the morning (one of them had 4 chicks!) and got pooed on alot by both Common Terns and Black-Headed Gulls (including in my hair - not happy). After finishing all of that, the fog had lifted a bit, so got dropped in Seahouses, had a shower, bought some food, had an ice cream and got on a boat back. Once I got back here I made fairy cakes (finally!) and lounged around a bit. There was a storm at about 4.30pm but it soon cleared. The evening was just spent socialising and watching TV really! So not a very productive day, but relaxing at least...wel sort of! Dave and Michael dropped Wez off on Brownsman this evening, and he's going to remain over ther for the rest of the time now, as they needed an extra warden, and Jamie needed a bed! Sad to see him go though, I think we all got on really well as a team, but I'm sure he'll be just as happy over there, and that we'll all get on with Jamie as well as we did with Wez!
That's all for now, will be monitoring Shags and Kittiwakes tommorrow and need to start on Arctic Terns very soon! Also got an Oystercatcher nest to monitor :) Hope all is well xx
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Monitoring Begins!
Started doing all of my monitoring yestday! I have 27 Shags, 55 Kittiwakes and 21 Eiders so far! I need to have 50 of each, but I have more Kittiwakes than I need, which shows they're doing well! I also need to start monitoring my Arctic Terns and Razorbills, but haven't had a chance yet, and won't be able to for the next few days at least, as we are all going to be very busy here!
Yestday was an average day really, but really hot which was a welcome change! Bit windy still, but good enough! Spent the morning monitoring and the afternoon at Lighthouse Cliff chatting to visitors about the birds and answering any questions that they had. In the evening Steely came back from Brownsman and we all piled into the Zodiac boat to go and do a Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) count, which involves driving around to the other islands in the Inner Group and counting all of the waders and ducks that we see. We counted Mallards, Eiders, Oystercatchers, Turnstones and Purple Sandpipers, and there were loads of each! I was looking out for Ringed Plovers, Curlews and Redshanks. I saw one Ringed Plover and one Dunlin, but that was about it. Anyway, as that took a while, we all went into Seahouses afterwards (I drove the boat there) to have showers, buy food supplies and eat dinner, which was nice!
Today is my day off, but Steely pointed out some more Eiders to me that I didn't realise were there, so I monitored them and counted their eggs. One of my Eiders has eggs that are currently hatching which is awesome! By this time tomoro they will all be out at sea! This afternoon, I'm going to make fairy cakes and hang out on the roof of the tower in the sunshine :) Hope all is well where you are!
Yestday was an average day really, but really hot which was a welcome change! Bit windy still, but good enough! Spent the morning monitoring and the afternoon at Lighthouse Cliff chatting to visitors about the birds and answering any questions that they had. In the evening Steely came back from Brownsman and we all piled into the Zodiac boat to go and do a Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) count, which involves driving around to the other islands in the Inner Group and counting all of the waders and ducks that we see. We counted Mallards, Eiders, Oystercatchers, Turnstones and Purple Sandpipers, and there were loads of each! I was looking out for Ringed Plovers, Curlews and Redshanks. I saw one Ringed Plover and one Dunlin, but that was about it. Anyway, as that took a while, we all went into Seahouses afterwards (I drove the boat there) to have showers, buy food supplies and eat dinner, which was nice!
Today is my day off, but Steely pointed out some more Eiders to me that I didn't realise were there, so I monitored them and counted their eggs. One of my Eiders has eggs that are currently hatching which is awesome! By this time tomoro they will all be out at sea! This afternoon, I'm going to make fairy cakes and hang out on the roof of the tower in the sunshine :) Hope all is well where you are!
Saturday, 15 May 2010
My first Tern attack...
As I haven't done a post in a little while, this one might be pretty long! Although I can never remember half of what I did when I come to actually writing it down.
On Wednesday, Wez, the newest recruit to island life, arrived. He is currently on Inner Farne, but will be moving to Brownsman next week when the other new guy, Jamie, arrives. I can't remember what I did on the morning, but my job in the afternoon was 'Boats', which involves getting the tourist boats in and getting people off of and on to them quickly and safely, which often requires some shouting at people so that they step onto/off of the boat at the right time (i.e. NOT when its moving away from the jetty). It's stressful when there are lots of boats, but not too bad. In the evening I counted all of the Shags in the area that I will be monitoring, but sadly I could only find 27 (I need to have 50 - so quite a way off!).
Thursday was an odd day. Me, Graeme, Steely and Wez had to get up very early to go for Membership and Customer Service training at a place called Scot's Gap, which is the National Trust's Regional Office. Steely was helping to train us, along with Trish, who was in my interview. We got to meet some people working/volunteering at other properties in the area, which was pretty awesome! Met people from Cragside, Lindisfarne Castle, Seaton Delaval Hall and another that I've now forgotten...damn. The training lasted most of the day, but was interactive, which was cool, as it meant I actually concentrated on a lot of it! Afterwards, we drove back to Seahouses, grabbed some takeaway food as we didn't have time to stay and eat, and boated it back to Inner Farne. Also - highlight of the day - I got to drive the Zodiac (boat) for the first time! It was a very calm sea in the morning so I drove us there! It was really easy, but the steering is backwards which makes it harder! Also, I was the first person to spot 4 Common Sandpipers that morning on the Jetty as we were going to get the boat ready. This is a first for me because 1. this was the first time I'd seen a Common Sandpiper and 2. I'm never the first to spot anything!
Yesterday was a pretty good day too! Trish who trained us the day before came over to Inner Farne in the morning to speak to all of the other Wardens and have a re-cap on their training. This meant that all of the Brownsman brownies and the Inner Farne fairies were on Inner Farne for the morning. Therefore me, Graeme, Wez and Steely all went over to Staple Island (which opens in the morning) to deal with the visitors. Staple Island is really good, as you can get close to a lot of birds. You also have more space to roam about and it is much better for photos! Unfortunately though, it was a bit of a rubbish day and there are no buildings to stand in...or toilets for that matter! It was good to experience the other island though! We all went back to Inner Farne in the afternoon, and the guys that had been training worked with the visitors all afternoon whilst I had a nap and sorted out some of my monitoring stuff. In the evening, we all went over to Seahouses which required 2 boat trips, as there were 8 of us and only 1 boat (which holds 6). This is because our boat broke - part of the engine broke off - so we're all sharing one, whihch is pretty awkward! But there was a party at The Olde Ship (a pub) to celebrate its Centenary, with a Hog Roast (I had Veggie Chilli) and a free bar al night! So we all had a few drinks and got to know each other, which was fun! Also, the first Arctic Tern eggs were spotted! Which is sort of good and bad at the same time. Good, because they're laying eggs, but bad as it means the attacking will begin...
And finally on to today and my first Arctic Tern attack of the season. There I was, innocently filling up the toilet-flushing buckets from the well (don't ask), when out of nowhere I hear a piercing scream as a Tern flew and pecked my head!! Luckily I was wearing a hat so it didn't hurt, but I did get pecked several times today, as did some of the visitors, but it's going to get worse from here on out! We found many more Tern eggs today, including one that was lain in the middle of one of the paths...stupid bird. So we had to put posts in all around the egg, and put blue string around the poles so that people don't step on it. They do nest in some weird places. We did not a lot all morning, to give us some rest for the afternoon, as it has been a very sunny and warm Saturday here on the islands - meaning EVERYONE decided to come to the Farnes! My job this afternoon was tickets, which just involves selling tickets really. And clicking through the members. Today was the busiest day we've had so far, with a grad total of about 375 people visiting in 3 hours, although that did include a group of unruly school children that I had to watch to ensure nobody trod on eggs/stole eggs/touched a duck etc. etc. Not up to much this evening, but will start to monitor my Eiders tomoro morning! On a bird note, saw a Roseate Tern today and one yesterday, which is very cool as they are rare! We only had 2 pairs breeding last year, compared to 1000's of pairs of the other species of Terns that bred here.
All in all a good week so far! I'm working in the Visitor Centre tomoro selling membership, so will be able to put my skills to the test now that I've been trained! The more members I get, the higher I am in the league tables! Yay! That's all for now, I will try to update more often to prevent my trusty followers from having to read an essay each time! xx
On Wednesday, Wez, the newest recruit to island life, arrived. He is currently on Inner Farne, but will be moving to Brownsman next week when the other new guy, Jamie, arrives. I can't remember what I did on the morning, but my job in the afternoon was 'Boats', which involves getting the tourist boats in and getting people off of and on to them quickly and safely, which often requires some shouting at people so that they step onto/off of the boat at the right time (i.e. NOT when its moving away from the jetty). It's stressful when there are lots of boats, but not too bad. In the evening I counted all of the Shags in the area that I will be monitoring, but sadly I could only find 27 (I need to have 50 - so quite a way off!).
Thursday was an odd day. Me, Graeme, Steely and Wez had to get up very early to go for Membership and Customer Service training at a place called Scot's Gap, which is the National Trust's Regional Office. Steely was helping to train us, along with Trish, who was in my interview. We got to meet some people working/volunteering at other properties in the area, which was pretty awesome! Met people from Cragside, Lindisfarne Castle, Seaton Delaval Hall and another that I've now forgotten...damn. The training lasted most of the day, but was interactive, which was cool, as it meant I actually concentrated on a lot of it! Afterwards, we drove back to Seahouses, grabbed some takeaway food as we didn't have time to stay and eat, and boated it back to Inner Farne. Also - highlight of the day - I got to drive the Zodiac (boat) for the first time! It was a very calm sea in the morning so I drove us there! It was really easy, but the steering is backwards which makes it harder! Also, I was the first person to spot 4 Common Sandpipers that morning on the Jetty as we were going to get the boat ready. This is a first for me because 1. this was the first time I'd seen a Common Sandpiper and 2. I'm never the first to spot anything!
Yesterday was a pretty good day too! Trish who trained us the day before came over to Inner Farne in the morning to speak to all of the other Wardens and have a re-cap on their training. This meant that all of the Brownsman brownies and the Inner Farne fairies were on Inner Farne for the morning. Therefore me, Graeme, Wez and Steely all went over to Staple Island (which opens in the morning) to deal with the visitors. Staple Island is really good, as you can get close to a lot of birds. You also have more space to roam about and it is much better for photos! Unfortunately though, it was a bit of a rubbish day and there are no buildings to stand in...or toilets for that matter! It was good to experience the other island though! We all went back to Inner Farne in the afternoon, and the guys that had been training worked with the visitors all afternoon whilst I had a nap and sorted out some of my monitoring stuff. In the evening, we all went over to Seahouses which required 2 boat trips, as there were 8 of us and only 1 boat (which holds 6). This is because our boat broke - part of the engine broke off - so we're all sharing one, whihch is pretty awkward! But there was a party at The Olde Ship (a pub) to celebrate its Centenary, with a Hog Roast (I had Veggie Chilli) and a free bar al night! So we all had a few drinks and got to know each other, which was fun! Also, the first Arctic Tern eggs were spotted! Which is sort of good and bad at the same time. Good, because they're laying eggs, but bad as it means the attacking will begin...
And finally on to today and my first Arctic Tern attack of the season. There I was, innocently filling up the toilet-flushing buckets from the well (don't ask), when out of nowhere I hear a piercing scream as a Tern flew and pecked my head!! Luckily I was wearing a hat so it didn't hurt, but I did get pecked several times today, as did some of the visitors, but it's going to get worse from here on out! We found many more Tern eggs today, including one that was lain in the middle of one of the paths...stupid bird. So we had to put posts in all around the egg, and put blue string around the poles so that people don't step on it. They do nest in some weird places. We did not a lot all morning, to give us some rest for the afternoon, as it has been a very sunny and warm Saturday here on the islands - meaning EVERYONE decided to come to the Farnes! My job this afternoon was tickets, which just involves selling tickets really. And clicking through the members. Today was the busiest day we've had so far, with a grad total of about 375 people visiting in 3 hours, although that did include a group of unruly school children that I had to watch to ensure nobody trod on eggs/stole eggs/touched a duck etc. etc. Not up to much this evening, but will start to monitor my Eiders tomoro morning! On a bird note, saw a Roseate Tern today and one yesterday, which is very cool as they are rare! We only had 2 pairs breeding last year, compared to 1000's of pairs of the other species of Terns that bred here.
All in all a good week so far! I'm working in the Visitor Centre tomoro selling membership, so will be able to put my skills to the test now that I've been trained! The more members I get, the higher I am in the league tables! Yay! That's all for now, I will try to update more often to prevent my trusty followers from having to read an essay each time! xx
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
The beginning of the busy season...
Today marks the beginning of the busy season here on the Farne Islands, as we have finally switched to doing half days! So Staple Island will be open to visitors only in the mornings, and Inner Farne will be open to visitors only in the afternoon. This is to reduce disturbance to the birds, the majority of which are now on eggs (apart from the Arctic Terns, which haven't even made nests yet. Therefore, my morning will be taken up with bird monitoring work, chores, odd jobs and inspections, and my afternoons with visitor work. Which is what I would be doing right now, but it's my day off!! Yay! :) no work for me! Instead, meand Michael went over to Seahouses on the mainland very early this morning to have a shower, do laundry and buy some more food, and now I'm just chillin out :) Michael was able to go because he's on boats today, and therefore has no chore to do. My turn to cook tonight, though, so I do have to do something!
We were all going to go to the mainland yesterday to have showers etc. and to get some dinner, but it all went wrong. We spent ages getting our stuff ready, getting the boat sorted out and in the water, putting on life jackets etc. and we were finally all in the boat and ready to go. We went a short way out, but the engine was making a very weird sound and the boat was only going slowly. So Steely stopped the boat to have a look at the engine it turned out that we were only running on one cylinder, as part of the engine had snapped off! So back to Inner Farne we came.
Apart from that, yestrday was a good day! No visitor boats as there was a very strong wind, so spent the day sorting stuff out and doing odd jobs such as testing the fire alarms and putting the extinguishers in place. And I got to do some strimming! Which was sooo much fun! I had to wear loads of protective gear, including a visor, ear defenders and a harness (see photos at the end)! Got covered in grass whist I was doing it, and accidentally strimmed a couple of snails, so got covered in that too, which wasn't very nice. And the whole time I was worried that I would maim an Eider duck, but it all turned out ok in the end...until I broke the strimmer that is. I hit a stone, the end flew off and it totally broke. Whoops! Luckily we have more and the strimmings nearly all done now! In case you're wondering why I was strimming, it's because the Terns like very short grass to build their nests in. Also, the Kittiwakes and Shags like to use the excess grass to build their nests, so everybody wins! I'm sure I'm forgetting to include something else that happened, but I can't remember everything, so I shall leave it there for now!
Me doing some strimming in the vegetable garden
We were all going to go to the mainland yesterday to have showers etc. and to get some dinner, but it all went wrong. We spent ages getting our stuff ready, getting the boat sorted out and in the water, putting on life jackets etc. and we were finally all in the boat and ready to go. We went a short way out, but the engine was making a very weird sound and the boat was only going slowly. So Steely stopped the boat to have a look at the engine it turned out that we were only running on one cylinder, as part of the engine had snapped off! So back to Inner Farne we came.
Apart from that, yestrday was a good day! No visitor boats as there was a very strong wind, so spent the day sorting stuff out and doing odd jobs such as testing the fire alarms and putting the extinguishers in place. And I got to do some strimming! Which was sooo much fun! I had to wear loads of protective gear, including a visor, ear defenders and a harness (see photos at the end)! Got covered in grass whist I was doing it, and accidentally strimmed a couple of snails, so got covered in that too, which wasn't very nice. And the whole time I was worried that I would maim an Eider duck, but it all turned out ok in the end...until I broke the strimmer that is. I hit a stone, the end flew off and it totally broke. Whoops! Luckily we have more and the strimmings nearly all done now! In case you're wondering why I was strimming, it's because the Terns like very short grass to build their nests in. Also, the Kittiwakes and Shags like to use the excess grass to build their nests, so everybody wins! I'm sure I'm forgetting to include something else that happened, but I can't remember everything, so I shall leave it there for now!
Me wearing all of the strimming gear!
Me doing some strimming in the vegetable garden
P.S. - I have been nicknamed Westie. How original...
Friday, 7 May 2010
Some more photos!
Not done much today that is worthy of note, so just uploaded some photos instead.
A pair of nesting Shags showing their three eggs
A Razorbill with its single egg
A Fulmar - not on eggs yet, but a close relatvie of the Albatross
A Guillemot on its single egg. Closely related to Razorbills and Puffins
Kittiwakes preparing their nest. Several pairs are on eggs already
A pair of Turnstones foraging
A pair of Oystercatchers who may have a nest... 
A male Eider duck
A female Eider duck on her nest right next to the pathway
The Puffins on Staple Island (only Inner Farne and Staple are open to the public)
A pair of nesting Shags showing their three eggs
A Razorbill with its single egg
A Fulmar - not on eggs yet, but a close relatvie of the Albatross
A Guillemot on its single egg. Closely related to Razorbills and Puffins
Kittiwakes preparing their nest. Several pairs are on eggs already
A pair of Turnstones foraging
A pair of Oystercatchers who may have a nest... 
A male Eider duck
A female Eider duck on her nest right next to the pathway
Thursday, 6 May 2010
The Past Few Days
The past few days have been incredibly busy, so haven't really had time to post anything.
Tuesday 4th was my first day of actual work. It was a lovely sunny day in the morning, but went cold and windy quite quickly. Fortunately for me, I was working in the visitor information centre that day, so I was able to keep out of the wind quite a bit :) I managed to sell 6 Farne Islands Guide books, but only got one membership, but at least I'm in the league tables now! It was pretty busy, but most of the visitors were members already which is why I wasn't able to convinve very many people to join the National Trust. In the evening, we all took a boat over to Seahouses in order to shower and buy some more food shopping, as we were all running out and I hadn't brought very much with me in the first place. We also ate dinner on the mainland since we were there anyway. As I said, it was a really nice day, and the sea was really flat and calm, which was good, as Steely wasn't with us, so Michael and Dave drove the boat there and back for the first time on their own and there were no problems at all.
On Wednesday, I was posted at lighthouse cliff, which is where large numbers of Shags, Razorbills, Guillemots and Kittiwakes nest. Therefore, it was my responsibility to talk to visitors about these birds, to inform them of their lives and point out any birds that are on eggs or chicks. I also had to answer any questions that the visitors ask, which are usually either about the birds, their behaviour, or about myself and what it's like to live and work on an island. It was a really hot and sunny day, which was nice as I was on the most exposed part of the island, so on days when the weather's bad, it's not too nice up there. Unfortunately though, I managed to get a bit of sunburn on my face. :( Oh well, it was going to happen sooner or later. In addition to this, at certain times throughout the day, I was required to carry out a survey to monitor the lobster potting boats in the area around the islands. At the specific times, I scanned around the island to look for these boats and record where abouts they were. This is just to monitor how these boats affect the reefs and marine life around the island. Trawling etc. is already not allowed here, and they are now just looking at the effects of the potting boats and of the diving boats. I will be monitoring diving boats all day Sunday, as well as whatever else I'm doing that day. In the evening after the visitors had all left, we took the boats into Seahouses once again, as the Farne Island wardens were playing football against the guys that run the tourist boats. I, obviously, did not play. There were a few others that didn't play either, and after about 30 mins watching them we went for a shower and then to the pub for dinner! The wardens won the match (yay) but disaster struck as a thick fog came in, meaning that we were unable to travel back to the islands that night! The plan was for all 9 of us to sleep on the floor of the lock-up that we have on the mainland (with sleeping bags), but luckily there was nobody in the hostel that night, so we were all able to sleep there for only £4 each!
It's mine and Jason's day off today, so we didn't have to get back to the islands as early as everybody else did. There was rain on the mainland though, so we didn't stay there much longer after everybody else had left. We hopped on a tourist boat at 11am and I got picked up from that boat into one of the little Zodiac speed boats when we got closer to the islands so that I didn't have to sail around for an hour first. I was pretty cold at this point but warmed up pretty quickly once I got in. Also, I met the female research students who are coming out in about 2 weeks to carry out research projects. They will both be here for about a month and a half, so I won't be the only girl for long. Not sure if that's a good thing or not though! Might get the day off tommorow as well, as strong winds are predicted so there might not be any boats coming out. Thats all for now, my night to cook tonight, hopefully I won't kill anyone, but you never know. Hope everyone back home is ok! Let me know whats going on with everyone!
Tuesday 4th was my first day of actual work. It was a lovely sunny day in the morning, but went cold and windy quite quickly. Fortunately for me, I was working in the visitor information centre that day, so I was able to keep out of the wind quite a bit :) I managed to sell 6 Farne Islands Guide books, but only got one membership, but at least I'm in the league tables now! It was pretty busy, but most of the visitors were members already which is why I wasn't able to convinve very many people to join the National Trust. In the evening, we all took a boat over to Seahouses in order to shower and buy some more food shopping, as we were all running out and I hadn't brought very much with me in the first place. We also ate dinner on the mainland since we were there anyway. As I said, it was a really nice day, and the sea was really flat and calm, which was good, as Steely wasn't with us, so Michael and Dave drove the boat there and back for the first time on their own and there were no problems at all.
On Wednesday, I was posted at lighthouse cliff, which is where large numbers of Shags, Razorbills, Guillemots and Kittiwakes nest. Therefore, it was my responsibility to talk to visitors about these birds, to inform them of their lives and point out any birds that are on eggs or chicks. I also had to answer any questions that the visitors ask, which are usually either about the birds, their behaviour, or about myself and what it's like to live and work on an island. It was a really hot and sunny day, which was nice as I was on the most exposed part of the island, so on days when the weather's bad, it's not too nice up there. Unfortunately though, I managed to get a bit of sunburn on my face. :( Oh well, it was going to happen sooner or later. In addition to this, at certain times throughout the day, I was required to carry out a survey to monitor the lobster potting boats in the area around the islands. At the specific times, I scanned around the island to look for these boats and record where abouts they were. This is just to monitor how these boats affect the reefs and marine life around the island. Trawling etc. is already not allowed here, and they are now just looking at the effects of the potting boats and of the diving boats. I will be monitoring diving boats all day Sunday, as well as whatever else I'm doing that day. In the evening after the visitors had all left, we took the boats into Seahouses once again, as the Farne Island wardens were playing football against the guys that run the tourist boats. I, obviously, did not play. There were a few others that didn't play either, and after about 30 mins watching them we went for a shower and then to the pub for dinner! The wardens won the match (yay) but disaster struck as a thick fog came in, meaning that we were unable to travel back to the islands that night! The plan was for all 9 of us to sleep on the floor of the lock-up that we have on the mainland (with sleeping bags), but luckily there was nobody in the hostel that night, so we were all able to sleep there for only £4 each!
It's mine and Jason's day off today, so we didn't have to get back to the islands as early as everybody else did. There was rain on the mainland though, so we didn't stay there much longer after everybody else had left. We hopped on a tourist boat at 11am and I got picked up from that boat into one of the little Zodiac speed boats when we got closer to the islands so that I didn't have to sail around for an hour first. I was pretty cold at this point but warmed up pretty quickly once I got in. Also, I met the female research students who are coming out in about 2 weeks to carry out research projects. They will both be here for about a month and a half, so I won't be the only girl for long. Not sure if that's a good thing or not though! Might get the day off tommorow as well, as strong winds are predicted so there might not be any boats coming out. Thats all for now, my night to cook tonight, hopefully I won't kill anyone, but you never know. Hope everyone back home is ok! Let me know whats going on with everyone!
Monday, 3 May 2010
Today is the first day so far that I have done any visitor work. We had no visitors in the morning as the sea was really choppy, but we had one boatload in the afternoon. I was on tickets, which is just selling tickets and letting in the National Trust members who get in for free! afterwards I just wandered around a little and spoke to some people. Some stupid person decided to poke an Eider duck (which is quite easy as they nest directly next to the path), which disturbed her a lot as you can imagine, so she got off of her nest, leaving her eggs in the cold and vulnerable to predators! I was able to rescue them though by covering them up with vegetation, asking visitors to move away and backing off myself to allow her to hop back on the nest, which she did do eventually! :)
Did chores in the morning (as I will be doing every morning unless I've got the day off). We were then told about the bird monitoring work that we will be beginning soon and we were each allocated an area where we can each monitor the different birds species. We each monitor the birds in our own sections at regular intervals to count eggs and look for chicks. We use coloured stones to mark the location of the nests that we are monitoring so that we don't loose any of them! Therefore, me and Graeme spent some of the afternoon painting large stones to use as markers for the Eider duck and Arctic Tern nests. We will be using bamboo canes as well as the stones to mark the ones that are further from the path (mostly my Eiders!).
We will each be monitoring:
- 50 Eider duck nests
- 50 Arctic Tern nests
- 50 Shag nests
- 50 Kittiwake nests
- 10 Razorbill nests
We will all do the Puffins together, and Steely and Jason are going to do the Guillemots. We split the Oystercatchers, Ringed Plovers, Pied Wagtails and Rock Pipits nests between us, as there aren't very many of them. We also have the option to monitor the Black-Headed Gull nests as well!! So lots of work will be coming up soon! As the Shags, Kittiwakes and Razorbills nest on the cliffs, we obviously cannot mark them with stones or canes, as we can't get to them without climbing down the cliff, so we will just be taking photos of their locations instead (which I put on here for all to see).
As I mentioned yesterday, I was the first to use the shower here, which seemed good to me! So we got the fire going and waited a while for it to heat the water. Unfortunately, we may have left the fire on for too long, as I was 'treated' to a very very hot shower!! But at least I had the chance to get clean :) will be brilliant when they get the pump in the basement so that it all works properly and we can have regular showers here! Really nice sunny day today but couldn't get any photos since I still have no batteries in my camera! Hopefully I will soon though, as we should be going back to the mainland sometime this week! Not much else to report and this has become a very long post now, so I'll leave it there for the day :) x
Sunday, 2 May 2010
Day 3
Literally done nothing today! There are really strong winds coming in from the North so no visitor boats are running, and since the bird monitoring work hasn't started yet we've been doing not a lot all day. In a while, I'm going to be the guinea pig for the shower, which should be interesting! We don't have running water, it all comes from a tank in the attic, and we don't have central heating, so the fire in the living room is used to heat up the water and the radiators, while solar panels provide the electricity. Since the shower will use tons of water and heat they haven't tried it before now, and I'm desitined to be the first! Apart from that not much to report today, so I'll explain the dynamics of the team.
On Inner Farne (my island) there is currently a team of 5 people: me, Graeme, David (who looks like prince william), Mike (the scottish one) and David Steel (aka 'Steely' - the head warden). David and Mike have been here since March and leave in Septmber, whereas me and Graeme are new and only here for 3 months. Soon we will be joined by Jamie who will live in the tower with us, and 2 female research students who will live in the lighthouse with 'Steely'.
On Brownsman (the other big island) there is: Jason, Matt (who is only 19!), Mark and Tom (and possibly someone else...I can't remember) who live in the old lighthouse cottage. There isn't much that remains of the actual lighthouse. They are soon to be joined by Wes who will live with them. Steely travels between the 2 islands to make sure all is well, and we meet up with the others quite often as well (or so I am told) so there are lots of nice people to socialise with!
Tommorrow looks like much of the same weather, or possibly worse, so it's highly likely that I won't be doing much again tommorow either, in which case there's no point in me posting anything! x
On Inner Farne (my island) there is currently a team of 5 people: me, Graeme, David (who looks like prince william), Mike (the scottish one) and David Steel (aka 'Steely' - the head warden). David and Mike have been here since March and leave in Septmber, whereas me and Graeme are new and only here for 3 months. Soon we will be joined by Jamie who will live in the tower with us, and 2 female research students who will live in the lighthouse with 'Steely'.
On Brownsman (the other big island) there is: Jason, Matt (who is only 19!), Mark and Tom (and possibly someone else...I can't remember) who live in the old lighthouse cottage. There isn't much that remains of the actual lighthouse. They are soon to be joined by Wes who will live with them. Steely travels between the 2 islands to make sure all is well, and we meet up with the others quite often as well (or so I am told) so there are lots of nice people to socialise with!
Tommorrow looks like much of the same weather, or possibly worse, so it's highly likely that I won't be doing much again tommorow either, in which case there's no point in me posting anything! x
Saturday, 1 May 2010
Watch and Learn (day 2)
Got woken up early this morning by the Terns making alot of noise by my window and the sunlight streaming in the window, but had a late start with work, as we weren't sure what was happening with the weather. Turnes out to be a good day for sailing, so we were very busy all day! The guys from the other island (Brownsman) came to help as their island was closed for the day. Since me and Graeme are new, we were just being introduced to the many different duties (which are done on a rota) by watching and learning really! So didn't do too much. Saw a Shag with new-born chicks and saw one just hatching which was awesome! Saw a Guillemot egg as well as Eider duck eggs so will try to get pictures soon! Found out I'm the only girl and the only vegetarian, but more girls will be coming soon to do a research project. Thats all today really, and more of the same tomoro, but the new rota starts monday, so I'll be alot more busy then!! Enjoying it so far though!
Photos from the first day (courtesy of my dad)
The Lighthouse on Inner Farne
St. Cuthbert's Chapel (left) and the visitor centre (right)
Inner Farne as seen from the boats
Me standing in front of the Pele (pronounced 'peel') Tower where I'm staying, with the chapel and visitor centre in the background
Me on the Zodiac boat on the way out to the islands
Hopefully more photos to come! (after I get some new batteries for my camera)1st day at the Farnes
Written 01/05/2010
So, this is my first day and my first ever blog so bear with me.Arrived on the islands at about 3pm, and got picked up in a little boat and taken over to the islands along with my dad and stepmum. Scariest boat journey ever! ...Or so I thought (read on..). We were quickly shown around the isalnds before the last tourist boat left at 4pm, which my dad and stepmum left on. It was brilliant sunshine and really warm, so I was happy despite the smell...1000s of seabirds all in one place does leave the islands a bit stinky, but I'm told I'll get used to it (I hope so). Unfortunately I didn't get any photos as my camera was packed away somewhere, but I'm sure my dad will send me his.
I have my own room which is nice as old towers go, and I'm living with 3 guys who are in a dorm next to my room. They're all really nice but kinda quiet at the moment! Didn't really do much as most of the staff were off on their boat training course (mines on the 16th May) so didn't meet most of the guys till the evening. We made a few more trips on the scary boats and I'm starting to get a bit more used to them now which is good as I'll be using them everyday for the next 3 months! In the evening we went to Seahouses (the village on the mainland) and had dinner in a pub, where we also got to meet all of the guys that run the tourist boat trips, who all seemed really nice as well! We also had to wait for the others to get back from their boating course so that we could all get back to the islands, but staying out so late meant driving the boats back in the dark. With no lights. And I mean pitch black. With only a lighthouse to guide us! So yeah, THAT was the scariest boat journey ever!!! Hopefully won't have to do it too often! Got the morning off today, as there are strong winds, but if the toursit boats can get over here we will be busy this afternoon.
So far so good! Hopefully I'll continue to enjoy it!
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