By Jessie Dermody
My first activity of the day was visiting the islands newest residents: four young Chickens! They have been named Morag, Ludo, Ambrosius and Mr Diddlemus, all (except Morag) after charecters in Labryinth. We are trying to handle them lots, with the hope that they will grow up to be freindly. They are very sweet and fuzzy, although they have not warmed up to humans yet. After we had cuddled the chicks, I headed up to the north end of the island to complete a seal disturbance survey.
The new chicks, (bottom to top) Mr Diddlemus, Ambrosius & Morag with their mother 50/50. Photo by Chloe Langmead
On my walk over I spotted a Clouded Yellow butterfly over the airfield. There are a lot of butterflies visiting the island at the moment! I also saw 3 Common Blue butterflies, a species that has not been present in high numbers on the island so far this year. Another species that I have not been seeing around as much recently also appeared on this walk, as a Kestrel was hovering near Tibbet’s hill.
A Clouded Yellow Butterfly - Photo by Greg Lee
Nine Seals were resting on the rocks visible from the seal survey spot. Unfortunately, they all stampeded off the rocks into the water shortly after I arrived, scared by a passing boat that came too close, too quickly. It is very troubling how often the seals here are disturbed to this level by boats, snorkellers and divers. Thankfully, this time most of the seals stayed in the area and returned to the same rocks later on.
A male and two female seals. Safely returned to the rocks after being flushed into the water. One of the females appears to be melting, whilst the other is banana-ing. Photo by Jessie Dermody
During the disturbance survey I noticed 4 Gannets a little further out. Gannets are not as common as you would think around the island, but I always keep an eye out in case there are any ceteceans beneath them. There were no signs of ceteceans today, but the birds stayed nearby for the survey and I watched them dive a few times. There were also a total of 15 Shags in the bay, a mix of adults and juveniles. The teenage Herring Gulls and Shags were out in full force, annoying their parents and generally being cute. I counted 7 juvenile Herring Gulls, and only one juvinile Lesser Black-Backed Gull, although there were 4 adults around.
An Adult and a Juvinile Shag - Photo by Jessie Dermody
After I finished surveying, I headed along the lower east path for a swim at Quarry Bay. This beach will be closed soon, as it will be seal pupping season, and this beach is very popular with the mother seals. I am trying to swim their as often as possible before the pups come, as it is a great snorkel site. We finished the day watching the sunset to celebrate the birthday of one of the volunteers. It was a beautiful sunset! We then moved to the tavern to sing musical numbers until 2am.
Sunset from below Old Light- Photo by Jessie Dermody