By Emma
Today was another grey blustery day, but that did not stop Chloë, Jessie and visiting rockpooler Eleanor heading down to the Landing Bay to do some rockpool surveys. They were quite successful finding many interesting species of sea slug, including some Celtic Sea slugs with their lovely gherkin body shape. An exciting find was Trapania maculata which is a rarely seen slug species in the uk, and not usually found in shallow rockpools like where it had been floating around when Eleanor found it, alongside its cousin Trapania pallida. Another beautiful invertebrate found was a Candy Striped Flatworm, matching its name very nicely with red and white stripes running along the length of its flattened body.
Celtic Sea Slug by Jessie Dermody
Trapania maculata by Jessie Dermody
Candy Striped Flatworm by Chloë Langmead
Elsewhere on the island, the gap between the Spring and Autumn migration periods is leading to low numbers of new birds passing through. However bird numbers are ever increasing as more and more fledglings emerge from their bracken, bushes and cavities, with a plethora of young Wheatears, Linnets, Starlings and more hopping around learning how to be birds. Thomas managed to read a ring number of an adult male Mallard and discovered that he had ringed it as a duckling 2 years ago on the island, which is very sweet to hear as many of the ducklings we have seen this year have become Raven Snacks.
Greg and I ended the day with a Seawatch, settling in the Ugly with a scope and watching out over the ocean. Whilst we did not see any migrants of the skua type (definitely not holding out for one!) we did see a couple thousand Manx Shearwaters flying close over the waves, putting on a graceful display of speed and acrobatics. Gannets were joining the party soaring high above the waves on air currents, a young individual showing off its dark feathers. Razorbills and Guillemots were heading out low over the waves to fetch fish for their hatched chicks, wings flapping frantically, holding up their little black and white bodies. I then had to run off to the Tavern to end my day with a tavern shift but slowed to walk through the Pines and listen to the Blackbird song echoing around the valley.
By Chloë Langmead
Hello everyone :)
It's been a windy week over here! I'm writing this while sheltering in the tavern from the 39mph gusting winds, meanwhile the Manx Shearwaters are loving it, with around 960+ seen in an hour this afternoon flying north.
I want to briefly mention that yesterday I went letterboxing for the first time, as it was my day off. I collected 9 stamps, and I found the Lundy Bunny! I ended the day by helping Jayden retrieve his Guillemots and it was a beautiful evening. I had the honour of checking the temperature, the wind speed, and direction.
Finding the Lundy Bunny. Photo by Chloë
Today has been a good day for office jobs! Jessie and I are going to be revamping the social media, trying to encourage more young people to visit Lundy. We've been working on creating some content in the form of post and videos.
We're also working on building a BRUV (Baited Remote Underwater Video) system. This is a non-invasive way to survey marine life and it works by deploying a frame with a video camera and bait canister. The BRUV is then left underwater for a set period and once retrieved, you go through the footage and ID the species seen. In this case we will be looking for Octopus, as we are interested to see if the Octopus bloom that has been occurring around the southwest UK is also occurring on Lundy. So today we have been looking at the best method to build one using what we can find on the island.
BRUV deployed on Lundy. Photo of a Smooth-hound by Robert Irving
This afternoon I had the pleasure of attending a lecture on Nudibranchs by visiting expert Bernard Picton. He and Robert Irving are running a Nudibranch ID course on Lundy for a group of divers and enthusiasts. Jessie and I were kindly invited to attend as we have a passion for marine life and more specifically Nudibranchs. They will also be hosting a talk open to the public on tomorrow at 8.30pm in the Tavern Wheelhouse!
By Eleanor Harris
Today started with a cold and blustery start, a sign of a weather change. We woke up to bright sunshine but puffy clouds ahead of the storm predicted tomorrow.
It was a Tavern day for me today so I got ready and headed out for an 8am start. As I am more of a morning person, it was great to be out on such a stunning day, talking to visitors whilst serving them food and drinks. On the island the Tavern is central to island life and its community being the place to socialise, meet visitors, and work. It is a shared space which it has unique character and history. As we do not have a set building for the Bird Observatory, it also acts as the hub enabling us to run a Wildlife Log every evening at 8pm. This morning, I met some lovely visitors who were curious about the island asking for recommendations on places to visit and things to look out for. If you, avid readers, are on the island visiting, feel free to come and chat to us.
Juvenile Stonechat in Millcombe by Thomas Weston
Whilst I was at the Tavern Thomas conducted census on his morning off before also heading to the Tavern for his shift. Some of his highlights were two juvenile Stonechat, a Cuckoo, a Kestrel and a Siskin. He also managed to catch 3 House Sparrows with the Sparrow Project Team, as well as 2 Starlings.
Heading towards Jenny's Cove by Eleanor
As the first part of my shift finished at 1pm, I decided to head for a walk to Jenny’s Cove along the main track making a slow wander along the West. Some of the highlights were Puffins, Guillemots, Skylarks, Fulmar and much more. At this time of year Jenny’s is alive with activity so a great place to visit. Once back I decided to make a cake and read for a little before heading back to finish my shift.
This evening after work we ended up going to one of our Manx Shearwater study sites for an evening ringing session. The result was one recapture so not the busiest night. We also found a long dead Manx shearwater with a ring - possibly predated by large gulls or a Peregrine. After this session, we decided to see if the female Corncrake was still on territory. Having not been heard since the 2nd June, we presume she has departed to another island, probably Scottish, and wish her luck on her journey. We did however hear a Water Rail so they must have bred successfully nearby. A successful day overall for all, and we will see what the weather brings in the next few days.
Lundy map - click to enlarge
