Prion Dissection

Plastic is one of the biggest threats to seabirds the whole world over, and Gough is no exception. Sadly, we recently found a Broad-Billed Prion which had died close to the Base. Usually when birds die on Gough they are eaten within a few hours by Brown Skuas or Giant Petrels, so all we ever find are a few left-over feathers. This time though, we found the Prion's body before anybody else, and we used the opportunity to dissect the bird to see if it had any plastic in its stomach and to better understand these fascinating 'Whalebirds'. This proved to be worth doing, as there was a piece of plastic about a third of the size of the poor bird’s stomach sat inside it. This really hit home just how much of a problem plastic in the sea is. Seabirds eat pieces of plastic floating on the surface of the sea, mistaking it for food. They can’t digest it, so it sits in their stomach for years and inhibits the amount of food the bird can absorb. Some birds’ stomachs become so full of plastic that they eventually die. In fact, thousands die each year. Very good motivation to recycle properly, and never litter!!

Some of the images below are quite graphic so please don't scroll down if you don't wish to see...

A Prion faring better than that below (David Kinchin-Smith)

Stunning blue birds

Prion alongside Tristan Albatross skull for size comparison

Filtering lamellae for feeding, hence 'Whalebirds'

Opening the abdominal cavity

The Prion's heart

The digestive system removed

A large piece of plastic removed from the stomach

Em & David

A year to the day.....

G62 has now been on Gough Island for an entire year. Well to be more accurate, a year and two days but we had a bit of a party on Saturday and the internet wasn't behaving on Sunday which is why this post is late. On an overcast, South Atlantic morning on the 9th September 2016 we approached Gough, having sailed overnight from Tristan da Cunha and Nightingale Island. Come next weekend, G63 will have the same sight as the SA Agulhas II once again returns to the island for its relief voyage. For two weeks, we will live alongside G63 before leaving our island home, as each team member teaches and then hands over responsibilities to their counterpart. These two weeks are always a VERY busy time as on top of both teams there are a further 20 personnel or so on Base, carrying out essential maintenance and science teams conducting research on this spectacular World Heritage Site.

So, over the last couple of weeks each team member has been making sure that all jobs are completed prior to the ship's arrival. For Em and me, this has been completing various bits of monitoring work around the island so that we can make the most efficient use of time when the new conservation team arrives. One of the larger jobs was to set up the Southern Giant Petrel colony 3-4 hrs walk away at Low Hump, which the new team will monitor from September onwards. It was wonderful to see these charismatic and prehistoric seabirds nesting again on the island, and we were able to mark out 150 incubating adults. Unfortunately, this was done in gale force winds and heavy rain so I'm afraid the pictures below are from last year on a much finer day! Other jobs have included Rockhopper Penguin weighing of the returning adults, to see how successful winter feeding was for them. We'll be hoping to get some sightings of Southern Elephant Seals over the next few weeks as HUGE adults haul themselves out on Seal Beach to join our Rockhoppers. Two days ago we were able to monitor our winter-breeding Atlantic Petrel burrows, as most eggs have now hatched and successful burrows have small fluffy chicks at the bottom. These birds have a remarkably long season on Gough, and the new team won't conduct a fledgling check until December! And finally, once again we have begun weekly monitoring of Mollys, Sooty Albatrosses and our cave-dwelling Prions, one of the most enjoyable spring and summer jobs for us and soon for G63.

Saturday's party was good fun, as we all enjoyed having the Base to ourselves before the hordes descend! Over the next week each team member will finish off any remaining work and together we will be making sure the Base is spotless for G63's arrival, not to mention putting clean sheets on over 40 beds! It has been a privilege to call Gough home for the last year, and we will be leaving with very mixed emotions, but I think we're all very excited to see our families both in the UK and SA!

G62 (Tom McSherry)

Gough Island (David Kinchin-Smith)

The Agulhas approaches (David Kinchin-Smith)

Welcome back SGPs! (David Kinchin-Smith)

Gough's Pterodactyls (David Kinchin-Smith)

Rockhopper dwarfed by Elephant Seal (David Kinchin-Smith)

Rockhopper weighing!

The table set for our party

David