{"id":658,"date":"2025-09-30T14:07:59","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T13:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/?p=658"},"modified":"2025-09-30T14:07:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T13:07:59","slug":"summer-with-the-seabirds-life-on-lundy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/2025\/09\/30\/summer-with-the-seabirds-life-on-lundy\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer with the Seabirds: Life on Lundy"},"content":{"rendered":"

This summer, I was lucky enough to visit the Lundy Bird Observatory for some fieldwork<\/span> as part of a BTO (Birds Science People<\/a>) grant.<\/span>\u00a0It is a special place for me as<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>I was their seabird assistant warden last season<\/span>\u00a0and started my bird ringing training\u00a0<\/span>there<\/span>\u00a0so it was an absolute joy for me to return this year.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Birds, birds, birds!<\/h4>\n

Lundy has a whole range of birds, especially seabirds, which I was thrilled to see again. My f<\/span><\/span>irst stop had to be the Manx shearwater colony to practice more ringing, as well as check the nestboxes for eggs and chicks with the bird observatory volunteers. I was camping during my trip so I also enjoyed listening to manxies every night.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After my first few days,\u00a0<\/span>I was lucky enough to help the team ring some shag young, a new species for me,\u00a0<\/span>and helped in breaking the record for the number of shags ringed on the island! This has to be the highlight of my whole trip.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Being on Lundy, I of course had to spend time watching the puffins, with many returning to their burrows with sand eels!<\/span> I also finally had time to explore the island at my own pace, do lots of bird watching and photography.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Marine life<\/h4>\n

Whilst birds are my main interest, I was also keen to\u00a0<\/span>explore the wider nature of the island.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>I rediscovered the wonders of the shoreline during<\/span>\u00a0a rockpool ramble and a snorkel safari<\/span>, led by the assistant warden<\/span>. The sea slugs and pipefish were\u00a0<\/span>d<\/span>efinitely my<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>rockpool highlights and I was finally able to get up-close to sand eels which, after watching puffins for a whole season last year, was an absolute dream come true.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Packing for the field<\/h4>\n

Now that the new term has started and we have a lot of new students about to begin their own conservation journeys, I thought I’d share some tips from my experience in the field to answer that all-important question… what do I pack!?<\/p>\n

If there is one thing I have learned in my field experiences is that the weather can be unpredictable! For this trip, I packed waterproofs and a beanie (in June!?) but also a bucket hat and sunglasses and used everything. <\/span>When packing for the field, good footwear makes all the difference! For instance, wellies in rainforest and shoes with good grip for cliffs.<\/span><\/p>\n

There’s nothing like being prepared to recognise the target species of your trip, so don’t forget your ID guides. For night surveys and camping at the field site, a head torch is also a must. Bonus points if it can do red and white light.<\/span><\/p>\n

Field stations can be noisy and sleeping in a tent can be very light in the morning, so an eye mask and ear plugs are key for those vital hours of rest.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, snacks!! Staying hydrated is essential when you are active, especially when in a hot country, so remember your electrolyte sachets. A little snack from home can also be a good pick-me-up if things get tough.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This summer, I was lucky enough to visit the Lundy Bird Observatory for some fieldwork as part of a BTO (Birds Science People) grant.\u00a0It is … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83585,"featured_media":661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[244608],"tags":[6599],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83585"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":666,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658\/revisions\/666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/dice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}