Our arrival on Flat Holm Island has been our main news over
the last 7 days. We have now officially started our jobs as Trainee Wardens,
and this is what we’ve been up to this week:
With the lack of the wind and rain that spoiled our last boat
journey to the island, the ride across in the rib was incredibly pleasant allowing us to take in some of our surroundings rather than hunkering down
under hats and hoods.
The island has two main buildings that are used for
accommodation; “The Farm House” which is comprised of 2 dormitory rooms along
with some living space, and “Driftwood” a row of rooms located very close to
the lighthouse. Our first mission was to get Driftwood into a habitable
condition, as this would be our home for the majority of our 6 month stay on
the island, while the Farm House will mainly be used for residential groups who
come to stay on the island.
With a little bit of TLC and some hard work bringing the
kitchen back up to scratch, Vicky and I moved into room number 4 of the
Driftwood block. The room has wonderful views out to the lighthouse and across
the channel toward Weston-Super-Mare.
The view out of our window in the morning. Not bad!
The majority of the first 2 days were spent trying to
understand how the island functions, and as we are mainly self sufficient out
here things work slightly differently than they would at home. For example to
be able to use water we first have to pump it up to the mainland tanks from the
underground ones. The supply in the underground tanks are limited to the rain
that was gathered over the winter though so we do have to ration what we use
quite carefully.
Our power on the island comes from a combination of a
wind turbine and 2 large sets of photovoltaic (solar) panels. Generally as long
as the days are sunny and windy we are fine for power, but we do have a couple
of backup generators to see us through if necessary.
On a daily basis a member of the team begins the day by
performing a certain number of checks before we begin the day’s work. These
involve checking the water filtration system is functioning, checking the fire
alarm unit for faults, checking the backup generators in case they are needed,
checking the temperatures of the fridges and freezers, and finally using the
weather station to complete a weather report which will be recorded with the
MET Office. The ducks and chickens are also fed at this point.
Badger faced sheep
Our days work can be very varied by all accounts,
although most of this week was taken up by finding our feet on the island. We
need to know the features of the island well enough to give guided tours to the
visitors, and for a small island there is a lot to learn!
We have completed 2 main tasks this week. The first was a
“nest sweep” during which we explored the island looking for gull’s nests that
are in places that they shouldn’t be and destroying them before they are able
to lay eggs in them (the island is split into two halves and we only allow the
gull colony to nest on the southern half of the island).
Our other task has been conducting a vegetation survey of
the island. This is done by going to set points and taking a set of photos in
several directions. Over a period of time these pictures can be compared to see
how the vegetation has changed over the seasons / years.
We were very lucky and had the chance to climb the island’s
lighthouse while the engineers from Trinity House had come out for a servicing
visit. The view from the top of the lighthouse gives you a great perspective of
the island, especially looking down on all of the Victorian gun pits and
defences that remain behind today.
At the top of the lighthouse. You can see some of the fortifications below
Probably the saddest news this week was the departure of
Wonky the ram from the island. As he was hand reared Wonky was incredibly tame
and loved to have a cuddle (even more so if you had food!). He has been found a
new home on a smallholding in Swansea and left on the Harbour Authorities boat
that came to deliver our shopping. In time the rest of the managed sheep will
follow as soon as a new home is found for them.
One of our fellow trainees Harriot gives Wonky a cuddle as he waits on the jetty for the boat
So in other news this week I am elated that my team Dover
Athletic have made it into the Blue Square South Play-off final after a nervy
afternoon against Eastleigh that went all the way to a penalty shootout. The
other good news is that the final will be during our shore leave from the
island and that I will actually be able to get to the game!
I have never liked the idea of working in a call centre
and it is a far cry from what we are currently doing, but the news article that
I leave you with this week may be just about the only reason I would consider
it...
See you all next week!
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