Happy Ending

I was warned at the beginning of this placement that I would be dreaming of yellow flowers by the end of it, and now I can understand why as ragwort pulling has definitely been a significant feature of this week!  Luckily I didn’t have to undergo whole days of this task as they wouldn’t be that cruel (incidentally the team here are lovely) so it was broken up with different tasks.  There were many standard volunteer tasks amongst these, such as clearing out an old building, collecting debris from fields, cutting back brambles etc.  However, there were also some seemingly unusual tasks such as getting dropped off in a field to count sheep.  The reason for this task was to check that the graziers that rent the land off the RSPB were abiding to the agreed numbers of livestock grazing.  The proposed number of livestock on these fields has been calculated to ensure that these fields are not overgrazed or, conversely, under grazed as if there are not enough livestock then they will concentrate on small areas where there is the most palatable vegetation.  This will result in other areas becoming overgrown which will have a negative impact on certain species, such as lapwings that require short grass in which to breed.

Another unusual task took place at Loch Insh which is partly owned by the RSPB but the rest is owned by a water sports centre.  There is an obvious conflict here between water sports and wildlife so the RSPB have tried to minimise this by asking staff at the centre to instruct customers to refrain from disturbance.  One of the most vulnerable species to disturbance is a pair of ospreys that nest on an island in the middle of the loch.  This island is off limits to the general public during the bird’s breeding season, and it is particularly important not to disturb them when they are incubating eggs or trying to feed young chicks as the negative impacts of the public scaring the adults away will be more severe at these critical stages.  Therefore, our task involved monitoring the activity of the loch such as what activities were going on, where, for how long and did anyone approach the island (which thankfully nobody did whilst we were there).  Not exactly a strenuous afternoon although it did feel slightly odd to be using my binoculars to follow people in boats! 

Loch Insh

As this week draws to a close, so does my summer of volunteering, a total of 8 weeks altogether.  I feel a great sense of achievement to have accomplished this as it has definitely been hard work at times.  Saying that, more than anything it has been a joy learning how this world of conservation works alongside some wonderful people who I’ve met along the way.  Most importantly, I have reconfirmed that I have made the right choice pursuing a career in conservation and I look forward to many an exciting adventure in the future.  I will of course keep this blog updated with future stories I will no doubt encounter along the way. 

Insh stories

The weather has begun to turn and there is now a definite sense of autumn in the air as I forge on with my final volunteering placement of the summer at Insh Marshes for a week.  There is a definite change in pace in duties again from the ‘working holiday’ atmosphere of Loch Garten to what only be classified as ‘work’ which I must admit to do prefer as I have always enjoyed a challenge.  Monday morning started with an induction with the site manager here and it was the most through and more importantly interesting one I had undergone as she took the time to really explain the management of the reserve.  One of the key management techniques of the reserve renting their land to graziers to graze a variety of stock, including sheep, cattle (e.g. highland and Aberdeen angus) and ponies, as these all produce a slightly different habitat.  Much of the reserve is managed naturally, as their isn’t any significant manual interference with the water table, although it is monitored daily.

The original focus of the reserve was to enhance the habitat for waders such as common sandpipers and lapwings etc.  However, other species are now being focused on including the rare dark-bordered beauty moth and the aspen hoverfly which requires 4 year old bark in which to breed.  The RSPB is also trying to promote the ecosystem functions of the reserve to the public in order to increase support for its protection, such as the fact that it is a natural floodplain.

Once this induction was finished, the first task was to locate goldeneye nest boxes so I and my fellow volunteer were sent out into the marsh/scrub woodland armed with a GPS and a ladder, quite an introduction to the reserve!  Goldeneye ducks are different in the fact that they nest in trees and as this is a rare species in the UK (200 breeding pairs) these nest boxes are provided in hopes of increasing their numbers.  These ducks are known to readily accept these boxes as there seems to be a lack of suitable nest sites in Scottish forests, perhaps because of the lack of mature trees, or the lack of black-woodpecker nest holes that are used by these birds in Europe.

Goldeneye duck

It is now after the goldeneye breeding season so there was no risk in disturbing the birds.  The purpose of this task was to determine whether these nest boxes had been used to checking whether there was any down or shell fragments present.  In some cases there would be eggs which are likely to have been laid by immature females that don’t incubate them as they are infertile and this is called ‘egg-dumping’. 

The second task was one that I was familiar with after volunteering at Forsinard Flows last year, and that was one of ragwort pulling.  This is a legal requirement of landowners as it is classified as a weed and also benefits horses as they are allergic as this plant’s toxins build up overtime until it reaches a lethal level.  It is not the most interesting task but, similarly to bracken cutting on Eigg, there is a sense of satisfaction on achieving it.  The fact that we were sharing the field we were clearing with 9 horses, all eager to make friends, also helped boost motivational levels as well as providing entertainment (i.e. bending down to pull ragwort while a horse nibbles your back pocket in search for food).

A day full on satisfaction and interest then, which really is all you could wish for as a volunteer.

Loch Garten stories

(Note - uploading the next 3 posts after my placements due to lack of wifi!)

My newest adventure has been volunteering at the RSPB nature reserve Loch Garten in Abernethy for the last week.  The focus of this reserve is protecting and monitoring an osprey pair that have been returning to this same area to breed for the last few years.

Loch Garten

Ospreys are on the Amber list (endangered but not critically so) with the RSPB as they were once relatively common in the UK but they were exterminated by 1916.  Since then their numbers have increased to 160 pairs but they are still threatened by egg-robbers so they require constant protection which is often where volunteers come into play.  My duties here involve monitoring the ospreys in a hide where any notable behaviour is recorded such as the parents bring in fish/nest material, the chicks flying, where and when they are doing so etc.  This monitoring is on a rotation system with the other volunteers so that the ospreys are constantly under surveillance, we even sleep there!

This year, the ospreys  have successfully managed to raise 2 chicks (Breagh and Oighrig), although the beginning of this season did not run entirely smoothly as there were originally 4 eggs but the male discarded  2 out of the nest.  The reason for this was that the female had not been entirely faithful as she mated with another male before her partner returned and therefore the male realised that these first 2 chicks were not his. 

Adult male

However, the season is ending on a high note as these surviving chicks are well developed enough to be flying now and they are spending more and more time away from the nest.  The parents are still bring them fish (primarily brown trout) although they are decreasing the amount of fish they provide (1-3 a day on average) and the purpose of this is thought to be to encourage the chicks to find their own food.  These chicks will have to be fully independent within the next week or so as this species heads south in mid-August to their wintering grounds in Africa which they will reach in late September.  
I know that everyone at the centre will be crossing their fingers for a safe journey for these chicks and a hope that these ospreys will return for yet another year.

Osprey chicks, waiting for parents to arrive with fish!

This week has been very different from Eigg as there are actual shifts organised whereas the work on Eigg was a lot more laid back in terms of timings.  However, the work here was more straightforward and definitely less strenuous than Eigg and I would describe this week as a working holiday.  All of my volunteering placements are different from one another but each one is similar in the fact that they provide my with yet more experience to help fuel my future career, as well of giving me the privilege of helping such special species find their way in this human-dominated world.

Seals and speed boats

After a relatively quiet week last week due to bad weather for most of it friday definitely made up for it as we made the most of the good weather and were out for 10 hours.  At least 9 hours of this was spent walking/hiking in the heat (yes, it does actually get hot up here!) so we were all exhausted by the end of it but well worth the effort.

At the beginning of the day I felt like a character out of the famous five as we made our way to 'castle island' which is a very small island just off the coast of eigg.  The purpose of this trip was to check on the seabirds, mainly the gull colonies to determine if they have had any breeding success.  We got their via a speed boat which I have never done before, cue change of character from the famous five to James Bond.  There was a common seal colony basking on one of the rocks we past so we managed to pause to get a few photos, with some of them coming right up to the boat to check us out.  They have very curious natures and not the most subtle although they think they are being when they sneak closer, until they realize we have spotted them!

Although Castle Island is very small, it still took us a good hour or 2 to walk around it, partly due to the fact that we kept stopping to look at the fabulous views/wildlife.  The first colony we came across was arctic terns and there were also some common terns among them, some with chicks which is a huge success as they have not successfully bred here for about 10 years.  On the other side of the island we observed that shags and black guillemots also had fledged chicks as did the gulls.  However, there were only around 30 gull chicks counted, which was not a huge amount as there were about 90 breeding pairs so this either suggests that a lot of chicks didn't make it, or more likely not all the pairs were able to breed this year.

After a much needed lunch break at the tea room when we returned to Eigg, we started the long trek up to the lochs again to check on the red-throated diver chicks.  Away from the sea breeze it did get very warm up amongst the heather and I'm sure I wasn't the only one eyeing up the lochs which were looking very tempting for a quick dip (see photo).  We located the first two chicks in the first loch which were still going strong and perhaps a couple of weeks off fledging where they will head to the sea so the parents can teach them the art of catching fish.  We didn't hold much hope for the other chick as the loch it was on is popular with otters and it was a lot smaller than the other chicks.  However, we were all delighted to see it not only still alive but much larger so its chances of survival have now increased significantly.

A day of success stories then and ended with happy thoughts of a lazy weekend in the sun...

Thrilling jobs of a conservationist

This week started with a task that is not exactly thrilling but definitely required which is bracken cutting.  It is not a complicated job, we were given some slightly menacing looking tools and basically told to let rip!  We weren't trying to clear all the bracken as that would be near on impossible so instead we focused on clearing that around young trees that had been planted, particularly oak as this is slow growing and easily overcrowded by ferns.  These trees have been planted to replace the conifer plantations in order to increase the diversity of animals that can use this area as a habitat, a task that is becoming more common throughout Scotland.  Although it felt like we were trekking through a jungle most of the time, constantly getting caught, bitten, cut, sun burnt and lost there was some strange satisfaction in this task.  Not only is it a fantastic from of stress release, when you give these trees space it almost feels like your rescuing I child from a caved in building and giving it room to breathe.  At least that's what it felt like to me, must be the heat!

Yesterday focused on a red-throated diver survey which involved hiking up to the lochs where they breed.  This species has suffered a slight decline in recent years and it now on the amber status with the RSPB so it was worth checking on breeding pairs to see if they have had any success.  It turned out that this was the case, with one pair rearing two almost full grown chicks and another rearing one young chick although there was none in the third loch we checked.

Although these lochs were beautiful, they did seem a more lonely place with a lower diversity of wildlife than I've seen elsewhere.  The main reason for this is that these lochs are not the best food source, not even these red-throated divers find food here as one adult has to fly out to sea that bring back food (mostly sand-eels).  The only other bird species that can apparently occasionally breed in these lochs are mallard ducks and common sandpipers if there is gravel nearby.  Still a habitat worth preserving nonetheless, not least for their beauty!

The weather this week continues to be surprisingly warm and I made the most of it this afternoon (after finishing more bracken cutting this morning) so begin conducting some survey work for my dissertation.  I'm interested in looking at the differences in the abundance and diversity of coastal bird species that are found on the Arran and Eigg.  On paper, they are similar, both being islands off the west of Scotland.  However, Arran is larger and I believe more significantly, has a higher density of people than Eigg which may impact the type of species that are found on these islands.  For example, ground-nesting birds that are easily disturbed may not be able to breed on Arran and so far my surveying has hinted that this may be the case with the Arctic terns as these cause quite a commotion when disturbed here and this species is not found on Arran.  All very interesting (or at least I think so!)  and I will of course write on here if I have any ground-breaking results!

Longest day yet

Although I am not a morning person, I was very willing to get up slightly earlier yesterday in order to see the golden eagles that I was promised.  The purpose of this survey was to locate the nest (John luckily had a good idea of where it was) and determine if there were any chicks and how many.  This early start was necessary as it was quite a hike to this nest following a fairly precarious path along a cliff, one that apparently is prone to rock slides which was not the most reassuring of thoughts! We eventually arrived at a site that was close enough to the nest to see it through the use of a telescope and this was the start of our vigil.  This can be a tedious part of conservation work as during surveys the majority of time is spent watching nothing and it takes a certain level of willpower to stick it out.  This is particularly the case in Scotland as the weather was not in our side as we were bombarded with icy cold winds and rain, despite the fact that this is July!

Although these weren't the most comfortable of conditions, it did not make the moment when we first got the glimpse of the chick any less magical.  This chick was obviously as unimpressed with the weather as we were so didn't venture to the edge of nest for long but it allowed us to see that it is maturing well with much of its head covered with its adult black feathers and only a small amount of down feathers around its beak.  Now that this chick has got to this stage of maturity its chances of survival are much higher which of course made us all very happy.  We didn't see any signs of a second chick which is a shame as eagles often have two but the rearing of one healthy chick is defiantly a success considering the fact that there is only around 400 breeding pairs left in the wild.

The next challenge for me will be to get a closer look at the adult birds as the closest I got was only a far away silhouette but this requires even more intense rock climbing so I may have to work on my fitness before that happens!

The next survey of the day included a bat count that we conducted at about 10 in the evening as it began to get dark.  The most common species of bat here is the pipistrelle bat and there are 2 areas on the island that they are known to colonise, although the are prone to changing the roost sites frequently which can make keeping track of numbers more difficult.  This survey was straightforward as it began after the first bat was sighted and then it was just a matter of counting any bats seen coming out of the roost site after that.  This took about an hour and ended when no new bats had been sighted for about 10 minutes.  There was defiantly a contrast in bat numbers between the roosts, with my team counting around 150 compared to the 6 the other team observed which they were not overly impressed about!  The most bats that have been counted at one site on Eigg so far has been over 250, I can imagine that was a long night!

My day ended therefore with a midnight walk across the island to a very welcome bed and the comforting thought that I will now get a couple of days off.  However, I'm already excited about next week's adventures...

Overwhelmed...

My first day of 'work' yesterday involved joining John (the warden) on his guided walk that he takes visitors on every Wednesday.  This is probably the best way to start my time here as I managed to see a fair bit of the island considering we were walking for about 6 hours, quite an achievement for such a small island.  One of our stops along the way was just outside John's house conveniently as this allowed him to get his telescope to view a variety of wildlife.  These included a pair of cormorants perching on a rock and a few common seals lying in the sun on the rocks just offshore, some with pups.  These seals don't congregate in large colonies like the grey seals that breed during the autumn and their breeding season seems less aggressive in a way due to this as there is less competition between the males.  We had a lovely half hour when we paused for lunch as the sun came out, followed by the seals venturing off the rocks into the sea to play, truly idyllic.

One of my highlights from this walk was seeing the Arctic terns, a species of bird I have never encountered before.  They really are amazing birds in the fact that they travel the furthest out of any animal, including trips ranging from the Arctic all the way to Australia. They were nesting on a group of rocks on the shore and were not best pleased at us disturbing their nests with some adults attempting to dive bomb our heads.  We didn't want to disturb them too long so didn't linger, although right at the last minute we managed to spot a chick that was hiding its head from us in the rocks, a strategy many species use as predators often locate chicks through their eyes.

I think my ultimate highlight of this day however was after the walk when John led us into an area of forestry, not informing us of his intention originally when the visitors were around.  It turned out that he wanted to check on a hen harrier's nest which is a protected species so he didn't want to reveal its location.  On approach of the nest we made a large amount of noise in order to scare the female away and we were able to check on the chicks (see photo).  Unfortunately there were only 2 chicks where 4 had been previously recorded.  They did seem a good size and weight however so fingers crossed they will survive particularly as the weather looks like it is going to improve which will give them a better chance.  Being within touching distance of this chicks was pretty amazing!

The main task of today was a lapwing survey on the moorland which is a red list species as its numbers have decreased by 80% since 1960.  This is a similar trend to many farmland birds that used to be common, including skylarks and yellowhammers as agricultural methods have become more  intensive.  This has resulted in autumn grown crops meaning there is less stubble available which can be an important food source for birds.  The drainage of land and application of agrochemicals has also led to the lapwing's decline as this is a wading bird so requires water.

The result of this survey was promising though, with around 30 individuals counted in total, 12 of which were fledged young hinting at a successful breeding season.  An unexpected bonus of this survey was the location of 2 very cute snipe chicks which we noticed due to an adult feigning injury which a number of species do to lead predators away from a nest.  One of these chicks decided to try and follow its mother's example and stumble after her but John managed to catch it and return it safely to the nest, after allowing me to take a quick photo as seen below.

I'm already overwhelmed at the variety of wildlife I have seen and with a chance of seeing golden eagles tomorrow my excitement continues to grow!