Week Ending 30th June 2013

So this week saw me become another year older (I know that technically I only aged a week between Monday and Sunday but you get the picture) as Tuesday was my 27^th Birthday!

The past 2 years have absolutely flown by, but when I take the time to look back it really hits home how many amazing things we've been able to achieve in that time. It really reinforces how lucky we really are.

So on the Tuesday Mum and Dad were able to board the Westwood Ho boat from Weston-Super-Mare and come and visit us on our little island home for the day. It’s always great to gauge people’s reactions when they come to the island, and I think that they both were able to see the same things that Vicky and I see in it. Certainly the rations of cake and sweets that came over with them from the mainland have been well appreciated by all of the team! While they were here we were all able to enjoy a drink in the pub and a picnic on the beach, as the weather for once was sunny with very little wind... certainly not something we see very often in these parts!

Mum and Dad made it over to see our little island home

The little ducklings that I mentioned last week are now unfortunately no more, and in fact I think the last one went missing not many hours after I published last week’s blog. It is very unfortunate that they share a nesting field with the biggest predators on the island!

The gull chicks on the other hand are going from strength to strength, and many are now starting to show their juvenile feathers. It is hard to believe that they are the same little bundles of fluff that they were just a few weeks ago. A number of them have even been spotted trying to fly, but at the moment they just end up flat on their backs whenever they try. It won’t be long though I’m sure before we see them taking to the skies. Next weekend we will be having a gull ringing team over to the island to ring 100 of the lucky little things, so that we are able to keep tabs on them throughout their life and see where they end up.

A gull chick comes face to face with an Oyster Catcher. The chick is no longer a ball of fluff and is sporting his first feathers.

At the moment the oldest ringed gull that we have sighted on the island this year has been 16 years old which certainly isn't bad going! Many of the birds that are ringed here go on to be spotted down in Western Europe as they migrate away from the UK, and are often spotted in the likes of Spain and Portugal. In terms of distance, the furthest that a Flat Holm ringed gull has been spotted away from the island has been nearly 3250km away in the Western Sahara!

The remainder of the week has mainly been spent trying to get certain types of vegetation under control on the managed side of the island. Nettles and thistles have mainly been the enemy as we race against time to stop them going to seed and creating more work for the future. Strimming and hand slashing has largely been the workload therefore and we have not had the time to carry on with the dry stone walling. 

Vicky getting some strimming done near the fog horn station

Being honest I haven't really looked at the news this week and so I don't have an amusing article to finish on, but I'll aim to resume normal service next week. See you then!