Weeks 3 and 4 saw the beginning of our adult education courses which filled the observatory with enthusiastic photographers, dry stone waller’s and birdwatchers. Starting with the photography course run by Mike Radcliffe.  It was fascinating to watch these artists capture and present our island and its diverse wildlife. Some of the highlights included shots of Grey Seals, seabirds, rabbits, and Loaghtan lambs. The photographers were then joined by the Manx Shearwater experience group for one night of manxie dazzling. We managed to find 21 birds including one that had been ringed 20 years prior!

They were out birding in rain and shine, from early morning with the bird ringers, to late night manxie dazzling, learning all about the ornithology of the Calf. This included a presentation from Aron about the status of different bird species and what we have learnt about bird populations from ringing data. They also joined us for a round island survey on Steve’s boat to count the breeding seabirds. A huge thankyou to all of our guests for their fab company, help with all aspects of Calf life and the endless donations of cake and biscuits that motivates the wardens daily!

Eider nests are still regularly being found by both the ringers and the estate team. Our star eider locator, Christa, is permanently on edge while wading through heather during long tail bait monitoring after coming across 4 new nests on her travels. 

Rob daringly disembarked at several sites and managed to ring 4 new birds as well as locate 29 new Shag nests, so it was a very successful trip. It ended with a mini prize giving where Aron was presented with a trophy for not capsizing, well done Aron!

We began the Shag colour ring project, funded by Manx National Heritage, in week 3, which involves ringing the birds with a taller, lightweight ring, that is bright red and has a specific code of 4 letters printed along the side. The colour rings allow passers-by to identify the birds so we can retrieve information about the survival rate of chicks that leave their nest. So if you’re visiting the Calf and see any colour ringed birds around, please note down the code or take a photo and let us know where and when you saw it. This project will provide vital data on this red listed (BoCC4) species as breeding numbers fell by 51% between 2000 and 2019 on the Calf. It is of great importance that we monitor the population and attempt to understand the drivers behind their decline.

Estate work by myself, Christa and Dan also continued over the past couple of weeks with continual track repair across the island, long tail bait monitoring, clearing of Fuchsia from around the observatory, slipway maintenance, weekly butterfly transects, Bracken clearing and flailing, maintaining the guest rooms, chopping firewood and my personal favourites include the moth trap surveys and monthly seal survey.