A Tale of Two Islands - Papey

My time in Iceland was spent working on the LOMVIA project studying guillemots – more on this in a later blog – and naturally this meant working in seabird colonies. During the month I was part of the team working across three different sites: Langanes on the mainland and two offshore islands. Langanes was an enjoyable site, but it is the two islands in which our work was primarily focused. First up was Papey Island.

Papey is a fairly flat island covered in low-lying vegetation, but in some areas it raised up enough to provide the perfect cliff habitat for our study species - guillemots.

Although we were working with Brunnich’s and common guillemots it would’ve been impossible to not take in the wildlife across the island. Sightings such as red-throated diver chicks, snow bunting, harlequin duck and multiple waders were on this island but where it really excelled was the seabirds.

A perfect habitat for waterfowl, waders and seabirds all in one location.

In my time working as a seabird ecologist the species people are most interested in is the puffin. This is understandable, given their endearing yet slightly comical look, bright colouration, and clumsiness on the ground and energetic activity in the air (they are built primarily for life on and in the water after-all) and there are places to see them in vast numbers around the UK.

Puffin.

However, puffins generally increase in number the further north you go, and so the populations in Iceland are massive by comparison. By working on Papey I was lucky enough to spend my time on an island that is home to 130,000 puffins! When seen wheeling around in the air in just one part of the island the scale of the population was quite spectacular.

No photo can truly capture just how many puffins there were, but the land, air...

...and sea were covered in them.

It wasn’t just the puffins either; kittiwakes and fulmar were present in numbers I haven’t seen the like of before and it was great to spend some time with them as well.

Fulmar covered the grassy ledges all around the island.

Fulmar taking incubation duty.

Kittiwake.

The chicks grew so fast in just the two weeks we were there.

A seabird colony is a busy place!

One species that was a bit more unusual was the black guillemot. These can also be seen around the northern UK coastline, often quite well in harbours. But they were present in large numbers on Papey and we were fortunate enough to even find a couple of breeding sites.

Black guillemots with their distinctive white wing patch, black belly and red feet.

Black guillemot chicks; unusual for this family of seabirds in that they lay two eggs and not the usual one.

Of course it would be impossible to work on a seabird island and not mention the best species of all – the razorbill! My personal favourite was present on Papey as well and are always a joy to see.

Razorbills :)

Of course, I wasn’t there to study razorbills but their close relative the guillemots.

Common guillemot and razorbill.

Papey was a joy to work on. The terrain was a nice pace to walk around, getting to the cliff colonies, even on islets only accessible at low-tide, was a simple practise and most importantly the birds themselves were great to work with.

The terrain on Papey was one of the most pleasant of my experiences working on offshore islands!

Islet accessed at low-tide was simple enough to get to and work on as well.

We were fortunate as well in that there are a couple of houses on Papey and although they are not permanently lived in they are extremely well kept and made our stay there much more comfortable than many a seabird island I have worked on.

Not all islands can be so simple to work on and comfortable to stay on though…

Introduction

In April this year I accepted a post with the British Antarctic Survey to be their penguin and giant petrel Zoological Field Assistant on Bird Island, South Georgia (in the sub-Antarctic region). Throughout September and October I am undergoing all sorts of training in preparation for this role and will be flying out on the 4^th November.

Soon I will get to see these guys in the wild!

As this is such an amazing job opportunity for a seabird ecologist I have decided to write this blog to show the amazing wildlife in the sub-Antarctic to anyone that wants to read about it. I will be in a location with limited internet access so blogs will be irregular but I will try and upload new ones whenever available.

Bird Island is an amazing location to be working at, and in my first on-island blogs I will be describing the journey there and the island itself. But for this introductory blog I thought it would be best to describe how I got here….. very briefly!!

I have always loved animals and wanted to work closely with them in my career. I decided the best way to do this would be to go into conservation work as it is vital to protect the natural world for the wellbeing of people and the planet. As such I studied for a BSc in Ecology, Economics and the Environment at the University of York. During my third year on this course I sat my first entirely marine based conservation module. The comparative lack of understanding and protection afforded to marine environments over terrestrial ones astounded me and I wanted to learn more, much more!

Moon jellyfish in the red sea

Therefore, I signed on for an MSc in Marine Environmental Management, again at York. However, having already committed to some voluntary work in Ecuador after my BSc finished I had to have a gap year before starting the MSc.

Most work in Ecuador involved cleaning cages and feeding the animals. But when a puma needs a lift after anesthetic who am I to refuse! :)

Working in animal rescue centres in Ecuador was a great experience but I had a lot of time before starting my studies again in York. So my tutor recommended I contact RSPB Bempton Cliffs who had been looking for summer volunteers monitoring their seabird colonies.

Cliff top views of seabirds from Bempton and nearby Flamborough are spectacular

In just two months at Bempton I realised how much fun it can be to work with seabirds, particularly as they are an excellent visual indicator of the health of the otherwise unseen marine environment; this makes them an ideal subject for research in to understanding marine environments and increasing the awareness of conservation issues around such locations.

Gannet flying at Bempton

During my MSc I developed an understanding of how conservation efforts are done in marine environments; including doing my final dissertation on work in Madagascar!

May not be a marine landscape (although there is water!), but a trip to Montagne d'Ambre is a must for all wildlife enthusiasts visiting Madagascar

Following the MSc and another four months at Bempton, I moved to Alderney to work with the Alderney Wildlife Trust and take on the day-to-day work involved in managing their Ramsar Site. My work in Alderney was vital to my acceptance as a scientist with BAS, so details of my time there will follow in the next blog.

Razorbill - my favourite :D

Before then a quick note on my name – RememberTheRazorbill. I developed a personal favourite in the razorbill during my time at Bempton Cliffs. Puffins are always the poster child of seabird work in the UK whilst gannets get a lot of attention due to their size and diving habits. Meanwhile guillemots and kittiwakes group together in such numbers that they are always well received. However, razorbills, being more spread out throughout a mixed seabird colony, can often be overlooked and so I made sure to always point them out to visitors to the site and they quickly became my favourite because of it. Ever since I have made sure that razorbills get included wherever I can!