They have been with us since we arrived on Gough in September 2016, but soon the island will be empty of Great Shearwaters. For the last couple of weeks, the chicks of Gough 62 have been leaving the safety of their burrows for the last time and flying out into the Atlantic. Considering we only found our first hatched chicks at the very beginning of January, it's been a bit of a marathon for our wonderful adults to raise their youngsters.
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| February (David Kinchin-Smith) |
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| April (Em Witcutt) |
The Base on Gough is surrounded by Great Shearwater burrows. It has been fantastic to walk along the boardwalks at night throughout the season and have adults landing (sometimes not particularly gracefully) all around you, listening to their wailing cries. With very few adults now feeding the remaining chicks, the nights are quieter but we are lucky enough to see the fledglings emerge from their burrows each night and make their way to the cliff edges and out to sea.
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| And now.....(David Kinchin-Smith) |
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| Adult (Top), Fledgling (Bottom) (DKS) |
The spectacle of 2 million Great Shearwaters returning to Gough to pair up and clean burrows will be one of the first sights which greet the Gough 63 team come September. And still, after many months on the island, it is perhaps the sight I feel most privileged to have witnessed.....what a bird!
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| Just how many!? (David Kinchin-Smith) |
David
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