Week Ending 8th December 2013

As per usual it’s been a busy couple of weeks here at the farm. Our Christmas elf trail is now fully up and running, and we have already had nearly 400 children through the door in the opening week!

Last weekend brought a visit from our friend Beth and her little boy Jack. We had a great time taking Jack around the farm and to the seaside, and spent endless hours playing with his toys. Once he was tired in the evenings we actually got to spend some time talking to Beth!

Beth kindly bought down some DIY Christmas decorations, and we sat on one afternoon making paper chains and designing cut out snowflakes. It was great fun and felt like we were back at school again.

DIY Christmas Tree!

This week saw a couple of school visits, and I finally got the chance to lead a school group for a full day’s activities. We spent the morning meeting the animals and doing activities along the nature trail, and the afternoon session was spent in the kitchen learning how to make pizzas! Thankfully the children seemed to be well behaved and interested in what was going on, so I think I will chalk that up as a success!

As part of our diploma we have this week been designing and conducting ecological surveys. Thanks to the summer on Flat Holm we have some excellent experience of conducting surveys, and the planning phase went quite smoothly. During the course of the week we have surveyed the hedgerows in the orchard and the rocky shoreline down at Goodrington Sands, and although neither survey turned up anything too exciting hopefully we recorded all the data we will need. Let’s hope the results and analysis sections go just as well!

Checking out the upper shore at Goodrington

With Christmas creeping closer and closer, the Trust organised a volunteer party with mince pies and mulled wine for all of the unpaid members of staff as well as casual volunteers. It was a very kind gesture by the trust and a good way for us all to meet some similar minded people who work at some of our other sites. It’s amazing how many volunteers we have in one capacity or another, and it’s fair to say that the amount of work that gets done wouldn’t be nearly possible without them.

This weeks amusing news story comes from right here in Devon. Is it just me or could this be the coolest bathroom door ever?!...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25283872

Week ending 24th November 2013

It's been a quiet couple of weeks down here on the farm in Devon, with far more going on off of the farm than on it.

Plenty of time has gone into studying in the evenings and on days off (which have actually been quite plentiful lately!). Some of what we are learning even seems to be sinking in which is good, and the general feedback from the work that we have submitted so far has been very positive.

On the farm most of the time has been spent in meetings or preparing for the onslaught of visitors that our children's Christmas Trail will bring, which scarily is due to start at the end of this coming week!

The weekend just gone was a very enjoyable one as Mum and Dad were able to come down for a long weekend and have a good look at where we are working and what we are up to. 

It's fair to say that we were right royally spoiled for the 4 days that they were here, eating out every day which is something we are definitely not used to. Makes a change from beans on toast with Asda value bread and value beans!

We had a great few days exploring some of the local areas including Totnes, Cockington and Plymouth, and remarkably we had the best four days of weather that we have sampled since arriving in Devon so far!

The highlight of the 5 days since our guests returned to Kent has been the cider tasting day that work took us to on Friday. Heading just a few miles away to the Hunt's cider workshop, we were able to try a number of different ciders as well as getting the full behind the scenes tour of how it's all made. 

The cider press

The pulping machine and press were quite incredible, and at 200 years old they were installed by the current owner's Grandfather. It's a real family business that has been passed through the generations, and although in the near future they are having to move operations to a new factory hopefully that family and community spirit will be maintained.

Now that's what I call a bottle of cider!

This entry's amusing news story comes from France, and goes to show why making "bets" over an unlikely event could just come back to haunt you.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-25038456

See you next time :)

Week Ending 10th November 2013

This edition of the blog is dedicated to the memory of our friend Dub Shaba, who sadly passed away early this week. He will be dearly missed by many of us.

Dub at Vicky and myself's wedding (second from right)

I will never forget the first day that I met Dub. He was a colleague of Vicky's, and had offered to give us a lift up to London (where he went home at the weekends) to save us the cost of a bus ticket each. 

In typical fashion Vicky fell asleep in the back of the car within 15 minutes of us leaving Dover, leaving me the whole 2 hour journey to talk to a person I had never met before! Fortunately one of Dub's biggest passions was football, and was a season ticket holder at his beloved Arsenal (even the best people have their flaws!). Needless to say there wasn't a single quiet or awkward moment during the course of that journey, and by the time we got out of the car at the other end it felt like we were with somebody that I had known for years. Not because he had told me his life story several times over, but simply because he was one of the most open and friendly people I had ever met. To this day I don't think I have met another person who is able to smile so much, seemingly regardless of what kind of a day he was having. 

So now I've got the sentimental start out of the way, it's once again been a busy couple of weeks since I was able to blog last.

During the half term week the farm hosted it's 3 day Halloween trail, and provided all of us staff with an excuse to dress up and scare small children! A series of challenges were set out around the nature trail, and once those challenges were completed the children could come back to the farmyard to claim a packet of sweets and do some free craft activities.

Dressed as a wizard (I think!) helping children to make spooky masks

During the course of the 3 days we had over 1100 children (and all of their families) come and complete the trail, plus quite a few more that had just come to soak up the atmosphere. Considering we were only expecting 600-800 children it's fair to say that we were pretty tired come the end of each day!

The majority of this week just passed was taken up by hosting over 200 children from a local school over 4 days. Most of the time was spent working in the woods down the road, and the activities were focused on team building and fire-craft.

The children seemed to have a great time, with the competitive edge between groups only spilling over on a few occasions! For the best part their excitement was channeled into trying to complete the challenges that we had set them. These included "Cross the Bog" (using milk crates and planks of wood), "Rope Bridges" (build between trees), "Blindfold Trail" (following a rope through the woods blindfolded with a team mate offering advice) and "Marshmallow Fires" (building and sustaining a fire long enough to toast a marshmallow on).

I finished the week by working on a "Migratory Bird Watch" at Berry Head, one of the Trust's other local sites.

While there were not a huge number of species on the move (in comparison to last years event which saw far greater numbers) there were still quite a lot of birds for us to enjoy.

A break in the recent rain made for a great day of bird watching

15-20 Harbour Porpoises had congregated just off of the headland, and flying above hoards of Gannets, Kittiwakes and Gulls were doing their level best to pick up any fish that the porpoises were directing toward the surface.

There were around 150 Guillemots all stationed along the edge of one of the cliffs, and it was quite a sight when suddenly all of them headed out to sea to go in search of food.

Not my best picture by a long way, even with the zoom lens maxed out you can only just make out the Guillemots on the cliff ledges. Locally they are known as "Brixham Penguins"

Cormorants and Shags were frequently spotted as well, while some of the smaller birds including Stonechats, Yellowhammers, Meadow Pipits, Linnets and Robins were all in the spotlight at one time or another.

A Kestrel and a Sparrowhawk added a bird of prey element, while Crows, Jackdaws and Ravens also made an appearance. 

Now in that last sentence I noticed "Jack" and "Sparrow" both feature, and that leads me on to this weeks news stories. I bet there have been a few Birthday cakes over the years to feature the lovable Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean, but I bet that none of them have been quite like this one...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-24852681

Finally this week I have a second story that highlights a breakthrough for women in football, and it comes courtesy of my beloved Dover Athletic's FA Cup match that took place yesterday...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24885560

See you all next time :)

Week Ending 27th October 2013 - Catch up!

Hi Everybody,

Apologies again for the lack of a blog last week. As per usual things have been pretty busy and I just didn't get round to writing anything!

The one word I would use to describe the last 2 weeks is... wet! I can't think of a day that it hasn't rained hard at one point or another. 

Contributing to the lack of blogging last week was the fact that both Vicky and I had come down with very bad colds, and most nights after work we were fit for little else than watching wildlife documentaries under a rug with a mug of hot chocolate. No real time for studying or writing blogs.

On the days that we were feeling well enough to work a combination of large school groups and preparing for our "Spooktacular Halloween Trail" left us feeling more that a little jaded come clocking off time! 

Before we succumbed to our illnesses however, we did get the opportunity to have an afternoon out "on the moors" as we went up to Hey Tor in the Dartmoor National Park. In a slight gap between the rain we managed to scale our way to the top and look out all the way across the countryside to the coast.

Feeding some of the famous Dartmoor ponies

Feeling a little better this week we've been trying to play catch up with all the things that didn't get done last week. Extra studying has been on the menu in the evenings to make sure that we continue our progress in that regard!

The largest group of the week came in the form of 90 reception class children who came to do a range of activities over the course of the day. We did bread making (or in this case it was more like bread shaping), gardening (including planting and weeding) as well as fun tasks on the woodland nature trail that taught the children about trees, birds and insects.

We're now nearly ready for our Halloween trail to start, and I'm looking forward to having 3 days dressed as a skeleton trying to scare all of the kids. 

Friday brought a hastily arranged visit to London with the sad news that a good friend of ours is very seriously ill. It was also one of those days where if something could go wrong it would go wrong! We set off very early from home as our bus would be leaving Exeter at 6.15am. In the rainy darkness of the early hours we ended up taking a wrong turn. Normally this would be no big deal, but it becomes one when the road you have taken is a dual carriageway with no places to turn back in the other direction for nearly 20 minutes! 

We got to Exeter and found ourselves with only 20 minutes to complete the 30 minute walk from where we had parked to where the bus was leaving from. Expecting it to be a cold day we had a number of layers on, as well as backpacks carrying our supplies for the day. This made the run across the city even less pleasurable than it would have been anyway. The bus was just pulling away as we came around the final corner. One last all out sprint and some frantic arm waving caught the driver's attention, and he stopped to let us on (it must have been through pity as by this stage I probably looked like a sleep deprived homeless man drenched in his own sweat). I felt even sorrier for the lady who I sat next to for most of the 4 hour journey, as the sweat ran down my forehead, off my nose and tapped repeatedly against the material of my waterproof jacket! 

Slightly more relaxed we arrived in London, and promptly caught the underground in the wrong direction in regard to our destination! We decided to take a break, and enjoyed a couple of incident free hours as we sat in St James' Park trying to identify all of the birds that we could see while we ate some lunch. We were even in prime position to see the changing of the guard which was an extra bonus!

Changing of the guard

The day's normal service was then resumed however, as upon exiting the tube station near the hospice we turned left instead of right, and needed the google maps app on my phone to get us back on track.

That evening we were able to arrange a last minute dinner with Danii, another of our friends who lives in London, and it was great to have a good catch up and a chat.

The long bus journey back saw us arrive at the car just before midnight, or when it comes to bad luck I should say just in time for one last kick in the teeth. For while it was dark, it was not too dark to notice the little yellow ticket sitting on my windscreen courtesy of the local traffic warden. In our haste and the darkness of the morning we had obviously not read the road signs close enough, and parked in the wrong place. It is between us the first parking ticket we have had in our collective 18 years of driving! I was so tired I don't think I even swore. All I remember is giving a wry smile and just reminding myself that tomorrow would be another day!

As I'm "working" in the visitor centre while I write this, the week effectively finished for us yesterday. We had agreed to volunteer for an "extreme beach clean" with the Trust, which involved kayaking and coasteering to collect litter from areas of the shoreline that are inaccessible by foot. Considering the time of year and the temperature I made the brave decision to stay on dry land and classify all of the rubbish that was brought back, while I let Vicky do what she does best and jump in the sea! 

Extreme Beach Clean at Anstey's Cove

This weeks news story comes from Orkney, and as a wildilfe cameraman you wouldn't expect what you were trying to film quite this close....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-24637627

See you next time!

Week Ending 13th October 2013

By comparison it’s been a reasonably quiet week down here on the farm. With no children’s groups booked in all week it was a chance to catch up on all of the little jobs that need doing around the farm.

Probably the most difficult job of the week was vaccinating the alpacas and trimming their hoofs. We worked with one of the full time farmers (as she knew what she was doing!) to get them into the shelter where it is a little to work with them, and she was able to give them their jabs while we restrained them.

"Captain Kid"

"Chieftain"

After a number of monotonous hours following some online 

training, I finally passed my food hygiene certificate meaning that in theory I can work in a kitchen without harming people....in theory!

Before the cold weather set in later in the week, we were able to get out and enjoy a few sunny days before they disappear altogether. One afternoon we even went down to the beach and enjoyed walking along the sands and clambering over the rockpools.

Making the most of the warm weather

The rest of the week has mainly been spent planning and preparing for the “Spooktacular Halloween Trail” that we will be hosting at the farm for a few days at the end of October. It basically involves taking our nature trail at the farm and converting it to host a series of spooky challenges for children to complete, and once they are finished they get to claim a prize of a bag of sweets. Hopefully while they are here they might even learn a bit about nature, but then again I might be expecting a little too much!

This weeks amusing story comes from the Vatican, and goes to prove that old school days saying: "Always double check your work before you hand it in"....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24489512

See you next time!

Week Ending 6th October 2013

It’s the end of another week here at Occombe, and a busy one it’s been!

The week has brought several more children’s groups our way, with activities ranging from rock pooling to pizza parties and starting fires in the woods. On top of all of that there was our wedding anniversary too!

The first school group of the week came down for a full day of activities in the forest just down the road from the farm. We had 2 main activities organised; Den Building and Fire Craft. The weather didn’t play ball either, and while the children were repeatedly able to get their fires started (all in a responsible manner I hasten to add) the torrential rain soon put pay to them! In reality the den building groups had things a little easier as they were building shelters to get out of the rain!

For obvious reasons I am not allowed to put pictures of the children online without consent. So here's a cow instead.

The next day brought us 12 children for a rock pooling group over near Berry Head, another of the trust’s sites. The children were all very enthusiastic about looking through the pools to find some wildlife, but were a little less keen to use the identification charts that we had given them, instead coming up with their own names such as “The Werewolf Crab”. I get the feeling many of the subtle species got overlooked in favour of anything that had pincers.

We also this week hosted a Birthday party for a group of children. Pizza making was on the agenda, but this time with far less of an educational theme compared to when we do it with schools. The children had a great time, and while we were waiting for their dough to rise we got them to make some animals out of biodegradable clay and hide them around the farm’s garden.

This time I'll show you a Great Tit

As well as all of our work at the farm, we are both still very busy studying for our diploma (mainly the reason why the blog is late again this week!) and on some days have been burning the candle at both ends so to speak.

Finally among all of that it was our second wedding anniversary on Thursday. I can’t quite believe 2 years has flown by since we got married, but we have certainly achieved a lot during that time. We spent the day by going to a local hotel to use their swimming and steam room facilities before going for a walk (during the only dry spell of the day) across the cliffs at Berry Head. We finished the night by going to one of the local pubs for a spot of food and drink, which went down very nicely indeed!

At last a picture that relates to the text! Out for an afternoon stroll along the coast at Berry Head.

For this weeks news story we head down to London to check out the latest addition to the many football stadiums already sited there...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24423342

See you all next week!

Week Ending 29th September 2013

Our first full week of working at the farm is now done and dusted. Although our duties are still only few and far between by comparison it has been nice to start learning some of the ropes that we hadn’t covered in our first few days.

We’ve had our first experiences of assisting with some of the children’s groups that come to the farm and all in all things went pretty well. The first group we had were of play school age and had come to the farm for a bread making morning. To be honest the adults did most of the work, but the children looked like they were enjoying themselves anyway! The session finished with flour everywhere!

While we were waiting for the dough to rise we took the children out onto the farm to see some of the animals. The children all seemed to be captivated looking at the animals, but they weren’t really of an age where we could teach them anything other than the animal’s names.

"King Julian" the goat emerging from the bushes

Our second group of kids were slightly older (around 6 years old), and they came to the farm to do some pizza making. There was a little more focus on the farm and the ingredients that went into the food, and the children were all very well behaved (thank goodness!). This time while we were waiting for the dough to rise we took the children out into the garden and got them to help with some weeding around the bottom of the raised beds. The kids really enjoyed helping us out, and to top it all off they were able to feed all of their weeds to the pigs!

We’re now starting to get to know the personalities of the animals a little bit, as well as getting used to the daily routines that surround them all. I’m sure in the coming weeks it will become second nature to us.

The living area of the caravan. Pretty spacious and starting to feel like home

There are of course some perks to having all of these animals around, and one of those is a daily supply of fresh eggs for the team. We usually end up with around 20 fresh eggs a day and we are normally falling over ourselves to try and give them away!

Free range eggs galore!

We also had a chance this week to visit the Seashore Centre, which is also run by the Trust and is a few miles down the road on the coast. While we were there we learnt to clean out the tanks for the sea creatures inside including; anemones, starfish and crabs.

We finished the week with a couple of days off, although much of this time was spent studying for our diplomas. We also had time for a short trip into Paignton to find out what was there and for me to get my hair cut. I now look a little less like I still live on an island!

This week’s amusing news story comes from Switzerland. I’m sure we have all from time to time had our frustrations with foxes; maybe they have scattered the contents of your bin bags across your garden or attacked the chickens or ducks that you keep? Well here’s why you might not be a fan of foxes if you are both Swiss and a keen golfer...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24293390

See you next week!

Memories of Flat Holm

Hi guys,

Here is a little photo slideshow of some of our memories of the Island.

Love Vicky x

Create a free photo slideshow

Week Ending 22nd September 2013 - Catch Up Post!

As anticipated I’ve been a little slow in getting the last blog written up, with leaving Flat Holm, travelling back to Kent and then back to Torquay to start our new role all coming in a very short space of time. I have therefore combined the last 2 weeks into one post.

Leaving Flat Holm didn’t quite go the way we expected after the weather had it’s say on the boat schedule. Having been due to leave on the Sunday following a very busy weekend of visitors, we found that the boats for Saturday and Sunday were cancelled due to the bad weather that was forecast. That meant rather hastily packing our bags and getting on the only available boat on the Friday instead! Whether it made leaving any easier I’m not sure but there was less time for sentiment than originally planned.

Waiting for the final boat of our time on Flat Holm

It’s very strange to think that we are not going back to the island, but it will forever stay with us as a place that we once called home. I’m sure we will visit again in the future to see how things have changed.

At the same time as starting our new role down in Torquay, both Vicky and I have enrolled on a Level 2 Diploma in Countryside and the Environment. Most of the course is taught online, although there will be some practical work involved as well that we can complete during our time down south.

Our new role is based at Occombe Farm which is run by the Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust, and we will be known as Trainee Farm Education Rangers. As the title suggests there is more environmental education involved with this role, although like previously we will have animals to look after and wildlife to observe.

Occombe farm. On the left is the play barn for the children, and on the right is the farm shop and cafe. All the food in both is organic.

Our accommodation on the farm is a static home (like an oversized caravan that doesn’t move) and we will be living here for the 5 months that it takes to complete our placements. We have quite a nice view from the van, and the only thing that lets it down a little is the traffic noise from a nearby road. I guess when you’ve lived on a little island 5 miles from civilisation for the past half a year we’re just not used to hearing it!

Our little "caravan" hidden away among the trees

The view from the window of the van aren't half bad though!

The farm has a number of animals for people to come and visit, as well as 2 nature trails for guests to follow. Our first few days working at the farm have mainly just been covering the basics of the day to day business, and we have started to help with some of the animal care and feeding. We have 2 pigs, 4 ducks (the same breed that we had on Flat Holm), 30 chickens, 2 alpacas, 3 goats and a cow with 2 calves.

A familiar sight from Flat Holm. A Khaki Campbell duck (male in this case)

On our first day off we spent some time exploring the local area to try and work out where all of our closest essentials are. We visited the nearby town of Totnes which is great for quirky little gifts and crafts, but a little too far to shop on a regular basis.

To finish the week we had a visit from our friend Janet who we travelled across the globe with last year. She stopped in on the way back from her holiday in Cornwall and very kindly bought us breakfast in the farm cafe. It was great to see her again and have a catch up on all the things that are new since we last saw each other nearly a year ago.

This weeks good news story comes from the US, where for this homeless man from Boston honesty certainly turned out to be the best policy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24170670

See you all next time!

Week Ending 8th September 2013

It has for once been a fairly quiet week out here on Flat Holm, with only one visitor trip making it's way to the island from Weston-Super-Mare on Saturday.

With our regular warden Matt being off the island for a short break, we have had former Trainee Warden Stewart returning to oversee the weeks work.

The project we started last week to clear the Victorian Water Catchment area was completed during the early part of this week, and the results are very pleasing. At least we still have plenty more weeds in other areas of the island that the insects that were living there can go on to inhabit.

Other work this week included the sanding and painting of the MET Office station fence, as the strong westerly winds that we frequently have on the island had started to take their toll on it. 

I've decided to create a new idiot of the week award which I have proudly presented to myself this week for leaving my mobile phone outside during a rain storm. After over 2 days of trying to dry it out in the sun I am finally going to try and restart it again later this evening, I can only hope that it hasn't reached the end of it's short life!

So we are down to our last week on Flat Holm, as by this time next week we will have left the island for the last time. We're still struggling to come to terms with the fact that we will be leaving the island, but we are finally starting to get all of our stuff organised and packed for next Sunday's departure. The schedule next week is looking very hectic, and with 3 separate groups all visiting on Sunday as well as us leaving I fully expect to be writing the blog a little late!

I will try to add photos to this weeks blog as soon as possible, but many of them are stored on my phone and may or may not be available after it's drying out process!

This week's amusing story is all about espionage, but maybe the spies in the world today aren't who we think they are!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-23962379

See you next week!

Week Ending 1st September 2013

Apologies to all of the blog fans that checked the site yesterday to find no entry, we were a little tied up with a boat of visitors and had to work on a Sunday for the first time in a while!

It's been a very windy week this week on Flat Holm, but that can't be considered too much of a bad thing considering that our wind turbine produces 80% of our electricity on the island. We haven't had much rain however, which is to the surprise of the visitors we have to the island who say they've had more than their fair share.

One of our most recent dramatic sunsets

The main news of the week is that both Vicky and I have found the next step on our journey after Flat Holm, as we have both been accepted to become Trainee Education Rangers working on a farm down in Torquay. Our official final day working on Flat Holm will be the 15th September. It's fair to say that we have very mixed emotions around moving on. We are very excited to be joining what looks like a great project down in Torquay, and also very happy to have some work lined up, but we are also very sad to be leaving Flat Holm. We've really fallen in love with the little island on which we've lived for the past 4 and a half months, and it does feel a little gut wrenching to be leaving it behind. Onwards and upwards though I guess...

While our new job will also be voluntary, it will continue to provide us with the experience and the knowledge we need to finally be able to gain paid employment in the conservation sector. You also never know where these things might lead in the future.

Back to Flat Holm though, and between visitor trips this week work has begun to rid the Victorian Water Catchment of the weeds that have covered it for the last couple of months. While we don't use the water catchment to collect water for ourselves anymore (all of our collection comes from roof top runoff), it is an important exhibit to conserve as it is one of only 2 remaining catchments of it's kind in The British Empire (the other being Gibraltar).

During the week it was also Vicky's Birthday and we celebrated the day with a few ciders while we watched a film in the evening. Unfortunately it was a little too windy to be able to have a bonfire as we would have liked to.

A small section of the Oyster Catchers on the West Beach that I mentioned in last weeks blog

The first member of our little island team moved on this week as Molly left the island in preparation for her new role with the RSPB. Hopefully she will have a great time and enjoy her work over the winter with them.

We also had a visit from a guy who provides helicopter training in the local area. He's now agreed to use the helipad to practice landing with some of his students every now and then.

The helicopter descending as the student and instructor stop off for a cup of tea

Another week has also brought another few new birds to the island. This weeks sightings include a pair of Kestrels hunting off the East coast of the island as well as a Ringed Plover who likes to visit the beach near the jetty around the time of high tide. Sightings of Blackcaps and Whitethroats have also been on the increase.

One of the Kestrels looking for something to eat

This Ringed Plover likes to stop off at the island every day

This weeks amusing story comes from our very own capital city of London. Knowing a few guys that have worked for insurance companies over the years I've heard my fair share of ridiculous stories that people report making a claim. "The tree just appeared out of nowhere" was one of my favourites. But if somebody rang a claims centre to report this incident I'm not even sure I could believe them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23930675 

Have a good week and see you next time!

Week Ending 25th August 2013

So it’s the end of another busy week here on Flat Holm Island. The week has seen 2 reasonably sized groups of visitors visit on the Westward Ho from Western-Super-Mare, and for the best part of those visits the weather played ball and was very pleasant.

The gull colony is now pretty much empty and will stay that way through until the spring when the breeding season begins all over again. Hopefully we will see some of the chicks that were ringed this year return to the island as the colony reassembles next year.

There were slightly fewer butterflies recorded on this week’s survey, but the island was packed full of other wildlife during our invertebrate survey. The team found Cave Spiders in the underground ammunition stores, several species of Dragonfly on the Elder bushes and a couple of new day flying moths.

A Migrant Hawker Dragonfly on the Elder bush

On the bird front we have noticed a large number of Oyster Catchers visiting the island’s West Beach at dusk every night. Now that their breeding season is over it seems that they no longer return to the site at which they nested, and are using the island as a congregation point. In recent nights we have seen up to 80 Oyster Catchers arrive on the beach, while we have previously only observed 10 using the island as a nesting site. Unfortunately by the time that they arrive the light is low and the black birds against the black rocks doesn’t make for a good picture!

It's much easier to spot Oyster Catchers during the daytime!

Although the breeding pair of Peregrine Falcons have now left the island with their fledged chick, a pair of Peregrines were spotted flying over the island this morning. There are of course still plenty of pigeons that they could pick up here as a tasty snack!

Work on restoring the old building directly above the jetty is now complete with Molly and Harriet putting in a lot of hours to get the project finished while the rest of the team were otherwise occupied. The building now looks great and is a much better first impression for those who step off the boats and up the jetty.

Before...

After...Looks much better

This weeks funny story comes from China. With our placement coming to an end on the island at the end of September we are still looking for a new job to take on afterwards. Something tells me that I won't be taking a job enforcing this new law in one of the southern cities....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23766837

See you all next week!

Week Ending 18th August 2013

It's been another busy week out here on Flat Holm with 4 consecutive days of visitors coming to visit the island.

Stuart and I were given the task of returning to the mainland to pick up the shopping for the next 5 weeks, staying overnight in Cardiff before returning to the island the next day. Everything went exceptionally well, with the exception of all the items that were in cardboard containers being destroyed by the rain!

The sun setting behind the Farmhouse over Barry Island

With the school holidays still in full swing we have had a reasonable number of children coming to visit the island with their families, and it always makes me smile as they struggle to come to terms with the fact that we live here without shops, cinemas or bowling alleys that they hold so dearly at home.

The butterfly count this week was well over the 200 mark again, with many of the white varieties of butterfly making a bit of a comeback.

With the number of gulls falling each week we have had more of an opportunity to stop and notice more of the smaller birds that are now calling the island home. Chiff Chaffs, Willow Warblers, Whitethroats and Wheatears are all commonly spotted at the moment, while along the coastline a pair of Whimbrels have frequently been spotted on the rocks down toward the water's edge.

The dry stone walling project is now back in full swing after a number of other jobs taking priority in recent weeks. Day by day the wall gets a little higher, and while it may not be the work of a professional we are all pretty pleased with how it's going.

Mat, Molly and Vicky working on the dry stone walling

Now I'm sure all of us at some stage have worried about being robbed or mugged when we've been carrying something extra valuable around with us (we certainly were carrying our passports and £2000 of cash with us around some questionable places while we were travelling), but in Venezuela it's maybe not what you are carrying in your pockets that you need to be worried about....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23707452

See you next time!  *Photos to follow shortly*

Week Ending 11th August 2013

Our first full week back on the island following our short break has been a fairly busy one, but we have got a lot of important jobs ticked off the list.

Light breaking through the clouds above one of the searchlight posts

After posting the last blog, I realised that there was one important detail that I had missed out. Just before we left the island for our short stay back on the mainland, it was time for the island's annual wild leak survey. The wild leaks that we have on the island grow in only 5 places in the UK, and we are lucky enough to be one of them. They are protected by law and it is a criminal offence to pick them or damage them in any way.

A Bumblebee enjoying one of the 3,135 wild leaks we have on the island

Statistically a population of over 3,000 leaks is classed as "healthy", while if the figures were to fall below 1,500 the population would be classed as "of concern". After a great deal of counting we finally came to record a population size of 3,135 wild leaks for Flat Holm meaning that we have a healthy population!

So back to this week. We began by putting out our moth trap overnight, and ended up having our most successful haul by far; 56 moths which were made up of 26 different species that we were able to identify!

The weeks butterfly walk was also similarly successful, with nearly 300 butterflies being recorded during the lap of the island. A few more species of butterfly have become more prominent since we returned to the island, with the Peacock and Comma butterflies becoming a much more common sight.

A Peacock Butterfly on the head of a Teasel that is starting to flower

The Comma Butterfly with it's frilly wings is now a common sight on the island

One of the lengthier tasks for the week was to top up the water tank that flushes the toilets on the south side of the island. The tank can hold around 6,000 litres, however the bowser pump that we use to pump water into it can only take 1,000 litres at a time. 

Vicky's turn at holding the hose in place

During the time while we were waiting for the tank to fill however I spotted something that made all of the waiting around worthwhile. A Jersey Tiger Moth came and landed only a couple of metres away from where we were filling the tank. The Jersey Tiger is classed as "Nationally Scarce" although in recent years their numbers have been reported as increasing and becoming more widespread. Previously they were often only sighted in and around the Devon area. A few years ago when one was sighted on Flat Holm is was recorded as the first ever sighting of a Jersey Tiger Moth in Wales! 

The Jersey Tiger Moth. Very happy to have seen one of these!

Although we only had the one boat visit this week the Westward Ho brought 93 passengers over from Western-Super-Mare, which meant we had an incredibly busy day. Five separate guided tours were required to accommodate everybody, but the weather was great and everybody seemed to have a fun day out.

So to finish off this week, what do you think is the most unlikely thing ever found on an underground train? Something about this discovery on a New York Metro train just seems a little fishy to me!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23610105

See you all next week!

Catch Up Time! - Week Ending 4th August 2013

Wow... I can't believe that we are into August already! Apologies for the absence of blogs recently, but having had a short break away from the island we've been busy getting all the little things done back on the mainland that we don't get a chance to do here.

Following on from the last blog entry on the 21st July, we had to head back to Cardiff for a few days of training before our official "holiday" began. A very comprehensive and practical first aid course was followed the next day by formal training in the use of Trimmers & Brushcutters, both of which we were able to pass. The latter is especially good news as we are now certified to use the machines in public areas, and that opens up another possible new door for the future.

Heading back down to Kent following the training was great, although as per normal there was little time for relaxing with a large number of jobs to get done and people to see in such a small amount of time. At least the weather really played ball when we visited Mum and Dad for a Sunday afternoon BBQ where a good time was had by all!

Although we are only just over half way through our 6 month placement on Flat Holm, the search is already on for future work as most jobs with a September / October start date are already recruiting. We have put in several applications for a range of roles in the conservation sector, and we have managed to secure an interview with the Kent Wildlife Trust for a similar placement to the one that we are currently on. Hopefully it will go well as a certain amount of time we have spent back home has been used brushing up on our knowledge.

So now tomorrow we head back to our island life once again, with a stop at Maidstone along the way for the above mentioned interview. Although we have only been off the island for such a short time I have to say I am really missing it. To us the island really feels like home and an extension of ourselves and our personality. It will be very interesting to see how the island has developed in our absence, with many of the plants coming into flower and the gulls preparing to leave the island after the breeding season.

We haven't really taken any photos this week, hence the absence of the usual snaps, but here's one from the stock cupboard just to add a little colour to the page.

Sunset over Lavenock Point

So to finish off this week, do you fancy winning yourself £7080? I'm sure most people would like to, and all you need to do is write the country of Switzerland a new national anthem! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23550915

Normal blogging service should be resumed this Sunday, see you all then! 

Week Ending 21st July 2013

It's been another scorching hot week out here on Flat Holm, and the island is starting to look more yellow than it's normal green. All of us have been feeling the heat, including the animals and the plants.

Despite the hot weather work goes on though, and it has been a pretty full on week. Unquestionably the largest challenge of the week was removing the commercial sheep from the island. They have at last found a new home to go to, but I think it's fair to say that they didn't want to leave this one!

It took many hours of building pens and herding (even sometimes carrying) the sheep between them, but eventually we were able to get the sheep onto the Harbour II boat and send them off to their new home.

Finally all of the sheep are safely on the boat and ready to depart for their new home

The Meadow Brown butterflies have been out in force this week, with well over 100 of them being counted on the weekly survey. The numbers of the Small Tortoiseshells have dropped off significantly, while the Large Whites seem to be making something of a comeback.

One of the Meadow Browns sunning itself on a Wild Leek

A Red Admiral lands on one of the Wild Leeks

With the weather being so hot, many of the birds are regularly being seen around the few areas that we actually have water left. With all of our collection tanks for outdoor use running very low we are hoping for a good rain storm to get us back on track. Not often you hear us wishing for that!

A pair of Greenfinches come down for what little water is left in the wildlife pond (female left, male right)

We had 2 school groups come over and visit us during the week. For the first we hosted a pirate treasure hunt with clues hidden all across the island. Most of the kids really got into it although a few of them...lets just say they might not be cut out for the great outdoors!

The second group were slightly older, and they came with the brief that they had to record a film of some description on the island. Some went for the conventional documentary type approach while others went down a more Disney meets horror movie route! I will certainly be interested to see what they look like if the school send the finished products over to us!

The rest of the week was taken up by continuing on the building that we are working on down near the jetty. By now all of the old lichen has been removed and the majority of the old paint has been scraped off. All that remains now is for it to be primed and painted and it should look as good as new again.

This weeks news story focuses on incredible luck, and just goes to show that when you think something is truly lost it might not be so lost as you think!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-23388667

See you all next week :)