Yet another month passes me by with Manx Wildlife Trust. It feels like yesterday that I was writing about things I had gotten up to in April! It has certainly been a busy month with plenty of wonderful things going on including the welcoming of the newest member of the MWT team – Beth the Education Officer.
Rachel's May Blog!
Find out what Rachel has gotten up to in her 9th month as a student intern with MWT.
The weather is heating up now and as the rain has slowed there is a real buzz in the air both of bees and motorbikes as many visitors are arriving for the annual TT races. Life is certainly good on the Isle of Man!
May brought many new challenges for me with two exciting new projects.
Firstly, on a day where I found myself with slightly less work than usual, I stupidly asked Lara if she had anything that she needed help with. She presented me with the Freshwater Fish of Conservation Concern report that she had been meaning to start but had found little time to do so. I obviously told her that I would love to help and so I spent a few days researching our native fish populations and any evidence of population trends that we have. I then began writing up a report and labelling each of our native freshwater fish with a conservation priority rating. This report will be added to the collection of RED lists that are being produced for the Isle of Man to help decision makers prioritise conservation efforts.
I was also asked by Andree to help him map the new rainforest site Creg Y Cowin for neutral and acid ground. We did this by using lesser celandine as a proxy as it only grown is nutrient rich ground. Once he showed me the flowing plant and did a few example areas with me, I was left to my own devices and finished off the survey before digitising it so that Andree could identify where each shrub or tree species will be best suited.
As well as these, I have also practically finished the MWT 2021-2022 greenhouse gas emission spreadsheet. Per member of staff, the emissions are looking so much better than last years audit! Once I have the last few forms back in from my colleagues, I will be able to send off the spreadsheet to The Wildlife Trusts main office for their data sets. I hope they will be impressed with our GHG emission reductions.
May also included ‘Invasive Species Week’ where the report on the wallaby population was released (IOM Curraghs Wallaby Census - Jan 2023.pdf (mwt.im)). It was interesting to see how the public responded on social media with many questioning the survey methodology. Others loved the thought of having that many while a few spoke up about their concerns. I am intrigued as to how the government use the information in the future. More surveys will be undertaken by various members of the MWT team with time to create a well-rounded data collection about the population.
Finally, I have been inspired to continue working hard with my freshwater pearl mussel project. I attended a talk by entoLIVE a couple of weeks ago held by Louise Lavictoire from the FBA. It was a fascinating talk and I learn even more about the incredible FMPs lifecycle.
I was also contacted by John Taylor from Natural Resources Wales. He works within the team breeding FPMs for conservation and the new 4Rivers4Life project. They too are attempting to reintroduce FPMs into rivers where they have thought to have gone extinct. He advised me that our eDNA research may have provided a false negative and that we should attempt a physical search of the rivers where they have been thought to have historical population in case remnants still survive. I hope to carry out a search once I return to the Island from my holiday! I shouldn’t get my hopes up, but imagine if we were to discover that freshwater pearl mussels hadn’t been extinct after all…
As usual, keep up to date on what I am up to by following my Instagram page @rachels_placement and any questions please don't hesitate to send over an email to rachelsmith@mwt.im