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