We’re coming to the end of our time on Gough, in fact the
new team will be arriving in about two weeks! We have very mixed feelings about
this. It’ll be lovely to see our friends and family after so long away from
home, but it will still be a very sad day when we finally do leave, especially since
the island is welcoming home all the summer breeders as we move out of the wet,
windy winter. Gough is coming out of hibernation, and it’s very exciting to
see!
First to arrive home were the Sooty Albatrosses, who soon
had the cliffs ringing with their ‘sky-call’, lifting their heads and
screeching at passing birds. Next came the Rockhopper Penguins, cruising into
their beaches on crashing waves. The skuas, who’ve been with us all winter but
keeping fairly quiet, have started pairing up and fighting boisterously for
territories. The Grey Petrel chicks are getting enormous, and will be leaving
us very soon to spend their first summer out at sea. We’ve also recently
spotted the first few, very tiny, Atlantic Petrel chicks. They have a long way
to go before they’ll be ready to fly, and their parents will be working hard
through the summer to find food for them. Our Prions are also back in full
force, and are holding noisy meetings under our windows every night.
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| Sooty Albatrosses starting to display again (David Kinchin-Smith) |
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| Giant Grey Petrel chicks! (David Kinchin-Smith) |
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| Ringing Grey Petrel chicks (David Kinchin-Smith) |
The icing on the cake though has got to be the return of the
Mollys, or Atlantic Yellow-Nosed Albatrosses. The sight of little white spots
dotted all over the hillsides, and their constant bickering chatter, is such a
large part of the atmosphere here during the summer that the island feels oddly
bereft when they leave. We were very excited therefore to spot them soaring
along the cliffs during the last two weeks, and very recently they have been coming
down to land. It’s wonderful to see them back on their nests, patiently awaiting
the return of their mates, or perhaps appealing hopefully for a new one. Three
weeks from now, we should be finding the first eggs, and the breeding season
will be well and truly underway for another year!
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| A Molly getting used to being back on dry land (David Kinchin-Smith) |
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| Mollys back on their nests (David Kinchin-Smith) |
All we need now are the Great Shearwaters, and the new
field-team to show it all to!
Em
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