During Thursday 11th July a few hardy members of the team travelled 525 miles north to meet at a tiny hamlet of Coldbackie on the Sutherland coat in Scotland. A very comfortable overnight stay in the Poor House led to the group mustering at Skerray harbour to meet our good friend Jean who was whisking us across the short sound to the magical ( well midge infested, totally lacking in facilities!!) island of Eilean nan Ron--or as we simply call it--Ron. For Pat and Kev this was their first visit. For me it was my 25th visit after first bringing a school group for a week back in 1990!! Thank goodness there were no risk assessment forms to fill in back in the day or else I would probably be still trying to complete them.......
You can make out the ruins of the old village--but the key task is to get all your kit up the cliff from the landing stage to set up camp near the old village. This used to be relatively easy until.....
The bottom row of steps were washed away in a winter storm a few years ago--so now it's a hefty lift up a sheer rock to the upper steps--but eventually we got things up and set up camp in decent weather. After setting up camp and a bite of food, Ben was eager to search out some of the Great Skua ( Bonxie) chicks which a previous group told us were ready for ringing.
Skuas are noted for attacking intruders to their nest area--as Pat quickly discovered!
You can just about make out the smug look on this adult Bonxie's face having seen off it's human intruders.
It's pretty unnerving when a bird as big as a goose flies straight at your head--so Pat was a brave soldier.....The chicks leave the rudimentary nest soon after hatching and can be found lying on the ground as you can see here...
How cute...not! There are several well used sites for catching Storm Petrels on the island so after a quick conflab we decided that Dave would take a team to 'The Slabs' and I would visit my favourite site-'The Gully'. Nets were set and furled during the afternoon, followed by rest, evening meal and a briefing before setting off at about 10.30. Birds started to appear about 11.30--just as a fine mist came in.
Stormies are the most delightful little things--a tad bigger than a House Martin. And they often sit for a short while after ringing until they get their bearings before flying off...
During our three nights we ringed 572 new Stormies and caught 87 previously ringed at least one of which was originally caught over 20 years ago! We also caught one which had been ringed off the coast of Portugal.
There's not a great variety of species on this small island but we did ring 4 Twite--a northern finch species not unlike a Linnet. Here you can see on this adult male the characteristic pink rump.
On the last afternoon we made the customary annual visit to 'Shag Gully'. It's a safe place--once you get to it but it needs a bit of a scramble in the first few metres, as you can see ...
Once down to the main area we managed to find three nestling Shags ready to be ringed which gave Pat, Craig and Kev their first experience of ringing this tricky species with a very nasty beak which can damage eyes very easily if you're not careful.
A couple of the older members of the group found getting back out of the gully needed a staged approach--with plenty of stops to take in the fantastic view.....that was our excuse anyway!!
Birds apart the highlight of the trip was watching Minke whales feeding in the channel. We think there were probably three. This record shot doesn't do it justice but you can at least appreciate the bulk of the animal from such a distance.
And this closer view shows the typical character of Minke with a small curved dorsal fin well back on the long body during a brief surface appearance.
We all agreed that it had been a success but as always these trips come to an end so we had to say farewell until next time.
But it's not all bad news--clean bed, shower, proper food etc etc all take on a mythical quality and the long journey home leads us to our lovely comfortable homes--until the next time!
what absolutely stunning photographs. My great aunt Nan (Kitty Ann) was oldest surviving native of Eilean nan Ron until she passed away in February last year. She used to make visits back to the island every year. You may have come across her name. I think in her 90th year, the BBC flew her in by helicopter as the access was becoming increasingly difficult for her. There is a "friends of eilean nan ron" facebook page, perhaps you already know. you would be most welcome to check that out. I posted a number of lovely photos on there last year
ReplyDelete