Week 2

So my second week has been much of the same. Though towards the end of the week it has really been clearing up and finishing the rooms.

Again I have been greeted in the morning to some stunning sun rises and in the evening choruses of Manx shearwaters warbling away. They really do produce a strange sound!

When I am ready to sleep, outside you can hear the gulls, shearwaters and oystercatchers all chattering away. So far I'm finding it quite nice having the activity outside my window though as the summer gets on and the numbers increase I'm not so sure sleeping will be as easy. Having said that I've been tired at the end of everyday and straight to sleep as my head hits the pillow!

We have been lucky to have goose eggs some days for breakfast. Can't get anymore free range then free ranging geese! They really set you up for the day and the yolk goes on forever!

In terms of ecological work I have still been out everyday at 5 pm to record puffin numbers around the neck. We are still to reach over 1600 when we will then count the puffins around the whole island. I have also been given a pair of scissors so that when I find a dead Manx shearwater I can cut the primary feathers this is so we know it's all ready been counted as a dead shearwaters. Unfortunaly, this is a daily occurrence as the great black backed gulls eat the shearwaters. All they leave, 90% of the time is the wings, everything else gone! They also eat rabbits so you come across rabbit remains too. On this island the great black backed gulls are top predator. So we will over the coming weeks be monitoring their population size and ringing them too.

Before I start that though we had last minute clearing up over Easter so that everything was ready for the guests to arrive Easter Monday. Though we were lucky and the Easter bunny made it to the island (so we all enjoyed a cream egg or two 😉). I was even let loose on the gator! Watch out everyone!