A wedding outfit with a difference...

At the very time that today's Royal wedding was taking place our seasonal ranger, Elaine, was getting dressed up in a special outfit too. I was giving her some strimmer training, so this was the first time that she had donned all the gear that is required to keep you safe when operating the machine. Not exactly glamorous, but needs must!

There are lots of people around and about on the reserve today, as we expected, making the most of the extra bank holiday, which is why both Elaine and I are working. We won't be strimming all the day, we will be around and about the property too so that we can be on hand for visitors if they need us.

Eggstraordinarily early season for guillemots!

They do say never work with children and animals, I have worked with both for over 20 years now, and neither of them ever fails to amaze me! The seabirds at St Abbs have been studied for decades, and very detailed records have been kept since the mid 1980s and the guillemots have never been recorded laying before 25th April, and sometimes they will leave it as late as 9th May. So, we were rather taken aback to hear from the folk on the Isle of May, that they had seen their first egg on the 15th, and sure enough, when we went out to check (it was the 21st by now) there were quite a few birds sitting on eggs! Have yet to hear what is going on on the Farnes, but I have no doubt that they will be early too. We are all scratching our heads a bit as to why they are breeding so early; is it something to do with the hard winter, or something to do with the birds reacting to climate change warming North Sea? It'll be interesting to hear from the colonies on the west coast of Scotland to see what is happening there - I am yet to hear back from our Seabird & Marine Ranger on St Kilda.

But whatever is happening elsewhere, we are now keeping a wary eye on all the other seabirds to see if they are going to follow suit; certainly the kittiwakes are nest building already. So, if you are planning a visit to St Abbs to see the seabirds, you may wish to come a couple of weeks earlier than you originally planned! We will keep you posted.

And it just goes to show; however much we humans think we know about the natural world, it can always catch us out and leave us with egg on our faces (sorry...couldn't resist!)

First Small Copper

Hello

I'm Elaine, the new seasonal ranger at beautiful St. Abb's Head. Last year I volunteered part-time with Georgia on the VMR and feel very blessed indeed to be able to spend a whole season here this year. Anyway the most important thing to remember is that I'm the one writing in BROWN.

Yesterday I conducted the first butterfly transect of the season and recorded the first Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) of 2011 near Mire Loch. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of it, so just to confuse matters, I did take a photo of the first two butterflies I netted, which turned out to be Green Veined Whites (Pieris napi). Sorry for the poor picture quality, it's really annoying the way bright sunshine spoils photos ;)

VMR events of the web!!!

The Voluntary Marine Reserve will be running a number of events this summer which you can come along to and find out more about the special wildlife that lives beneath the waves. Fancy meeting some marine creatures but don't want to get wet? Then join me for a Seashore Safari amongst the rockpools of the VMR. If you're a diver and want to find out more about the marine life you are seeing underwater, then why not take part in a Seasearch Observer Course? It's a national project that aims to record marine life and habitats in UK waters and increase protection of them. Also for divers, the annual underwater photography compeition, The Splash In will be taking place as usual on the bank holiday weekend at the end of August. So you can see, there's loads going on the VMR for all ages and interests. Visiti www.marine-reserve.co.uk for more information. We look forward to seeing you over the summer!

Bursting out all over!

Wheaters, sand martins, swallows, chiffchaffs, willow warblers, blackcaps - are all here and the warblers (the last three) are definitely a-warbling; and the skylarks are in pretty fine voice too! The shags and the peregrines are on eggs, and although the rest of the seabirds are not totally settled there is plenty of courtship and mating going on, and they are in and around in large numbers more often than not. The swans on the Mire Loch were busily building their nest yesterday - lets hope that they actually use it to hatch some offspring this year, as we haven't had cygnets on the Loch for 3 years now.

On the butterfly front small tortoiseshell, peacock and green veined white have all been spotted. As far as mammals are concerned, we have daily sigthings of roe deer and hares. And Elaine, our new Seasonal Ranger, saw a stoat with a baby in its mouth on the Mire Dam the other day.

The plants are also waking up from the winter. The little bit of blackthorn that we have on the reserve is in flower, which along with one or two wild cherry (or gean) in blossom, adds a splash of white to the sea of yellow gorse around the More Loch. The leaves on some of the early trees, like rowan, hawthorn and sycamore, are starting to burst out and there are two or three whitebeam in the car park that are looking particularly splendid in my eyes!

And who says that St Abbs is all about seabirds?!

Voluntary Marine Ranger needed!

Looking for a career in marine conservation? I am recruiting for a Voluntary Marine Ranger to assist me at the marine reserve over the summer months. This is a full time voluntary post but travel expenses will be paid and a structured training programme offered. (Please note that no accommodation is offered). The post is a 6 month unpaid structured training placement based at the St Abbs and Eyemouth Voluntary Marine Reserve which is near Eyemouth in south-east Scotland. There is 1 post available. The trainee will be involved in raising awareness of the marine environment through education and interpretation. Full training will be given and tasks will involve organising and leading public events – including seashore safaris, beach cleans and guided walks. Plus organising and leading environmental education activities mainly working with school groups, particularly on the rocky shore. Other tasks will include giving talks, community involvement, developing new interpretation material, manning the visitor centre and promoting the St Abbs and Eyemouth Voluntary Marine Reserve Code of Conduct. Training in environmental education techniques and marine species identification will be given as well as ‘on the job’ training from the current Marine Ranger. Excellent interpersonal skills are essential for this post and also enthusiasm for the placement and interpreting the marine environment. Some experience of working with young people would be advantageous. A marine background and knowledge of rocky shores is beneficial but not essential. A driving licence and own transport would be advantageous. The post involves volunteering for 5 days per week and will include unsociable hours at weekends and on bank holidays. The post is subject to an enhanced Police Disclosure Check and references. The volunteer is required to start as soon as possible and finish at the end of September/early October. For more information and/or an informal chat please call Georgia Conolly – 018907 71443 or email gconolly@nts.org.uk. To apply, please send a CV and covering letter to Georgia Conolly, Rangers Office, Northfield, St Abbs, Berwickshire, TD14 5QF or email to gconolly@nts.org.uk. Closing date – 5pm on Monday 18th April.

This week we were visited by Alicia Said from Malta. In Malta divers are campaigning to get an area of rich marine biodiversity called Cirkewwa declared a marine reserve. Frustrated by government red tape, they have decided to follow in the footsteps of the St Abbs and Eyemouth VMR by establishing a voluntary marine reserve. Alicia is actively involved in the project and spent 2 days with us in Scotland sharing information about how it’s done. Find out more about the project at http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=105453622821848

More signs of spring

Well, now its definitely spring as our new Seasonal Ranger, Elaine O'Mahony, arrived at St Abbs on Monday! Elaine has decided to swap a life in academia, for a life as a Ranger. Up until recently she was carrying out post-doctorate research on Malaria at Edinburgh University, but decided that this wasn't really fulfilling her love for wildlife and the countryside, so she decided it was time for a change. So over the last year or so, Elaine has been gaining invaluable experience by volunteering for various conservation organisations, including the Marine Reserve last year, helping Georgia out with her educational work. Elaine has a particular passion for seabirds, so is most excited to be living in a bothy in the heart of the reserve, right next door to tens of thousands of seabirds. Although rather camera shy, I did persuade her to pose with some daffodils, which have burst into flower this week along with the primroses. Over the week I have been showing Elaine some of the variety of jobs that we, as Rangers, are expected to turn our hands to; I think the biggest look of surprise I got was when I introduced her to the internal workings of a loo!

Please keep off the grass

Dave and John were with us on Wednesday morning. Not delightful weather, what you might call "atmospheric", as this photo of Dave in action shows, but we managed to get a bit of outside work done before we got too wet and then retreated to the workshop to do one or two indoor jobs. Out and about we were putting in posts on the road verges just above Petticowick. This is an area where people are tempted to pull off the road and park all over the verges, which not only damages our flower rich grasslands, but also can be the cause of congestion. The posts are there to deter folk form doing this. I love this photo of Dave - he has such an expression of determination on his face. A good thing that I couldn't capture the sound effects though!

Separating the wheat(ears) from the (chiff)chaffs

We have had our first migrant - a chiffchaff singing yesterday, a beautiful sound and a real herald of spring. These often dowdy little birds (picture top left) are one of the first migrants to arrive, along with sand martins and wheatears, from their wintering grounds in southern Europe and north Africa. I haven't seen (or heard) any other migrants yet, but definitely worth keeping an eye out.

The warm weather has also meant that Rangers and volunteers have been seen out and about in their summer plumage (aka shirt sleeves) too! I was out with our volunteers, Ernie and John (picture bottom left) this morning filling in potholes in the track up to the lighthouse, which, contrary to popular belief, is not a public road. This is something we do every spring when the potholes dry out and the weather gets warm enough to make the cold tarmac we use easily compactable. Definitely a job similar to painting the Forth Bridge, as there seems to be a never ending supply of holes! And before any of you say "why don't you do a better job rather than just patching it?" the answer to this is three fold: (a) we can't afford it; (b) the potholes will act as speed bumps; and (c) by keeping the track a little rough we hope this acts as a deterrent to too many people using it. We strive to keep traffic to a minimum as it is a nature reserve and vehicles disturb the peace and quiet, and so really only want it to be used by those who cannot walk up to the lighthouse and those accessing the lighthouse. So next time you are thinking of driving up the lighthouse track, please bear this in mind - and don't forget to put your two pounds into the cairn at the top to help us cover the costs of keeping the track open!

Speaking of migrants, another one will be appearing on the reserve next week, our new Seasonal Ranger will be landing at St Abbs on Monday...but more about that next week!

Sightings of furry things...

Our regular volunteer, Dave, has been spending more time on the reserve this week and will continue to do so in the coming months. He is taking a photographic course this year, and the culmination of the course is a project on a favourite place, and Dave has chosen St Abb's Head. Because he wants to make sure that he literally sees the area in a different light, he is camping out in a small building up behind the lighthouse which we call the lookout (although it doesn't really have the windows in the right place to look out on much of interest!). This means he can be on site for sunset and sunrise and anything else in between.

He has not been terribly lucky with spectacular dawns and dusks, but he has seen a fair amount of wildlife during his travels around the reserve, including a stoat in ermine on the footpath to the west of the Mire Loch. Sadly, it was too quick for him to get a shot of it, but above is a shot that fits his description of a white body with a dark face.

Now the lookout is not the most salubrious of accommodation. In fact, it is basically a small stone box, measuring about 10 foot by 6 foot, and somewhat damp and draughty with it. But Dave is a rufty tufty ex-forces man, so he can hack it as you can see form the photo right!

We look forward to seeing the fruits of his labours in May, as well as learning more SAS survival tips from him!

Spring is in the air!

Well it has certainly felt it if you have been lucky enough to be out in the sunshine this week. The daffodils on the road verge by the Visitor Centre car park have buds that are ready to burst; the rooks in the rookery next to the Office have been ripping twigs off the trees with their beaks and building nests; and our neighbours, Northfield Farm, have got lambs in the fields.

Its been a busy old week with loads of stuff being packed in already, and its only Wednesday! On Monday, Georgia and I were interviewing folk for the post of Seasonal Ranger, and I am pleased to say that our preferred candidate bit my hand off when I offered them the job. I will not reveal their identity just yet, but watch this space!

Whilst this was going on we also had the builders in doing a roof inspection and sorting out some drainage problems that were causing rising damp in the Office and the Rangers' Cottage (both listed buildings) and a plumber in sorting out a leaking stopcock in the Cottage (which was rather exacerbating the damp problems!). And we have been trying to tie up the finances at the end of the financial year and write reports for funders, all of which have actually prevented us from getting out in the sun nearly as much as we would have liked!

But today we actually managed to get out there and enjoy it! I was out with our volunteers, John and Dave, this morning, cutting and burning gorse. Now before you start penning a letter signed by "Apoplectic of St Abbs" in defence of the gorse, I don't have an aversion to it per se. It is great for birds and insects and adds a splash of colour all year round and a delicate smell of coconuts on a warm summer day; it is just when it is spreading over our flora rich grasslands that I object to it. So we are tackling the outlying areas, where patches are developing where they shouldn't, and leaving the areas close to the Mire Loch. We have started on the area above the Petticowick car park where there is a patch creeping up on an area important for one of our rare plants, Spring Sandwort (picture right). Not an easy area to tackle as its is on a 45 degree slope, but we didn't let that deter us; John and I cut back the growth, whilst Dave packed it into dumpy bags and dragged it down to the (horizontal) fire site in the car park. Its slow going, but a job well done as the gorse in this area also forms great cover for rabbits, whose grazing also has a detrimental effect on some areas of our grasslands.

Whilst Dave, John and myself were pretending to be mountain goats, Georgia was off carry out a Beached Bird Survey (BBS) on one of the beaches along the coast. The BBS takes place at this time of year each year. It is coordinated by the RSPB and the aim is to assess the effects of marine pollution on seabirds. It basically involves people walking the beaches all around the coast of Britain, recording any dead birds they find and any apparent cause of death (eg oiling). It sounds rather grim, but is actually an excuse for Georgia and I to get out and walk all the beaches of the NNR and VMR, and indeed further along the coast, so it is something we look forward to.

All Quiet on the Eastern Front?

Apologies for there not being a post for some time, but this is not because Georgia and I have been lazing about doing nothing (although, I must admit that we have both been off on leave for a while, so there has been a certain amount of that going on...but not during working hours, of course!). We have, in fact, been pretty busy getting all sorts of things tidied up before the end of the financial year (which is the end of Feb for us at the Trust).

Those with a keen eye will notice that we have had the decorators in, painting the toilet and visitor centre floors and external doors and windows. I have also got them to paint the ceiling of the visitor centre white, so that any light (natural or electrical) is reflected back into the room making it less dark and dingy as it was by the previously dark brown ceiling. In addition, I have had motion sensors fitted, so that the display lights will only be on when they are needed. So all in all we should have reduced our carbon footprint as well as our electricity bills.

Late last year we had the various buildings we own at St Abbs audited by the Energy Saving Trust, so that they could advise us on ways to cut our carbon footprint. I am pleased to say that they were impressed on how small a carbon output we have, and, save a few little tweaks like more insulation and draught proofing, we are doing all the right things. Great news, as because the Trust is a conservation charity, we are always striving to practice what we preach. And climate change is already having a discernible effect on the heritage we are here to protect, both natural and built, so anything we can do to slow the process has got to be good.

Speaking of weather, the volunteers and I have been filling some of the pots holes in the track up to the office, using stone chippings, as it was getting even more rutted than usual. Later in the year, we will fill the holes on the lighthouse track, which are numerous after the freeze/thaw of winter, with tarmac. But there is no point in doing it until the weather is warmer and dryer.

What else? Myself and one of the Trust's Nature Conservation Advisers have been reassessing the management of our grasslands both here at St Abb's Head but also on the piece of land we own up towards Dowlaw. We may take these grasslands for granted but the habitats and species they support are nationally and internationally important. And at the moment there are some areas that are overgrazed and some that are undergrazed and some that are just right (that reminds me of a story from my youth!). So we are looking into what we can do to try and rectify this. And with the topography we have here forming a mosaic of thin soiled knowes (small hills) with thicker soiled areas in between (as shown very nicely on the aerial photo above) its not going to be easy!

We are also in the process of recruiting a new Seasonal Ranger for this year. We had a good crop of applicants and are interviewing next week with a view to them starting towards the end of March. And we have been progressing with our plans for our pARTicipate project, where we will be celebrating the wildlife and environment of St Abbs through all sorts of art, including collaboration with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and a local visual artist.

Meanwhile, Georgia is in the last throws of putting together a dive guide for the VMR, which is looking great.

So, lots of stuff going on you see, just in a quiet sort of way!

First beach clean of the year at the VMR!

Thanks to the volunteers who came yesterday for a beach clean and litter survey of Linkim Shore, one of the largest beaches in the Marine Reserve. It is also one of the most inaccessible in terms of hauling large amounts of beach litter away, but we managed it!

Winter storms had brought in large quantities of rubbish, including 4 fish boxes, 5 car tyres and 6 creels (lobster pots), along with all the smaller plastic items, such as drinks bottles and pieces of fishing net. As usual, all the items collected were surveyed and the results sent off to the Marine Conservation Society so they can tackle the problem of marine litter at source.

As you can see from the photo, it wasn’t all hard work, and the fish boxes provided an excellent improvised picnic table for a well earned coffee and chocolate biscuit break!

Snowdrops!

And Aconites too...need I say more?

Footpath Update

Well, those of you who are regulars to the property will already have experienced the fruits of the footpath contractors' labours. They have finished their 2 week stint at the seaside now and have gone back into to them there hills. But what a difference they have made. The three areas they worked on: the Wuddy Slope; up above Clafferts Rock and the footpath descending from behind the lighthouse to the disabled parking area; are all now a pleasure to walk on. I think the area at the lighthouse is probably the section that I am most pleased with. You really had to be part mountain goat to navigate that area happily before the work was done, but now Gus and his team have worked their magic I don't think anyone will have a problem with it (see picture top right). And come the spring, when the vegetation starts growing again, then the new turfs will start to grow into place and all the old scars will heal over.

And there is more news on the footpath front too. The Trust has an in-house footpath team, who work mostly in Glencoe, on Ben Lawers and Goatfell on Arran. They have a week to spare in late February and so they will be coming to do some work at St Abbs too. They will be concentrating on the area above Starney Bay where the path is in need of some surfacing and drainage. If they have time, I will ask them to do a bit of owrk around the Mire Loch area too.

All this work has been possible through funding from Scottish Natural Heritage.

A priviledged view

I was meeting with a man from the Northern Lighthouse Board (who maintain the lighthouses in Scotland) today, and I'm pleased to say that I had the forethought to ask him to bring the keys for the lantern house along so that I could have a look inside. I must admit I do have a thing for lighthouses, but it is very important to know everything you can about the one that is slap bang in the middle of the reserve I think!

It was a great day for it, the sun was shining, lighting up the huge lenses with rainbows! Hard to catch the beauty in a photo, but I did rather like the shot above which also shows a reflection of a mysterious lady in black - not a ghost, but the owner of the cottages who is over from the states at the mo!

Christmas outing to Edinburgh Botanical Gardens

We had our Christmas party yesterday - me, Georgia and our four regular volunteers. A little postponed due to the snow in December, but I think more enjoyable for being in January when everything seems to be a little bit dull post festivities. Rather than just going out for a meal, we always go on an expedition to a place of interest, and this year we decided to go to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh. The weather was kind, so we had a good walk around outside loitering in the arboretum and alpine areas for the longest. Then we had a delicious meal in the restaurant in the new John Hope Gateway Centre, a quick wander around the glasshouses before back to the Gateway for a quick peek at the art exhibitions and then heading for home.

All in all a great way to say thank you to our vollies for all their hard work during the year!

Picture left to right: Sue, Dave, Georgia, John, Ernie, Liza.

Modern Technology helps throw light on Seabird ecology

Love it or hate it electronic technology is an every day part of our lives, and however cynical you may be as to the need for gadgets to become smaller and smaller, there is no doubt that they have their uses. For example, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology have been making use of tiny technology to find out more about the ecology of seabirds. Last week they published the following info on their website:

One of Britain's best known seabirds winters on opposite sides of the Atlantic depending on whether its breeding attempt has been successful according to new research published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The findings highlight previously unsuspected links between summer breeding performance and wintering distributions of kittiwakes.

The research team was led by Dr Maria Bogdanova from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) in conjunction with colleagues from CEH and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).
The discovery of such patterns of segregated winter distributions is important for defining key wintering areas in declining species such as the kittiwake that are experiencing poor breeding seasons with increasing regularity.

The results show kittiwakes that experienced breeding failure left their colony earlier than successful breeders. Failed breeders then travelled over 3000km and wintered off Canada while their successful neighbours remained close to Britain. The two groups did not differ in the timing of return to the colony the following spring. However, over half the males from both groups made a previously undescribed long-distance journey out into the central Atlantic before the breeding season.

Lead author Dr Maria Bogdanova, an animal population ecologist at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, said, “Our results demonstrate important but previously poorly understood links between breeding performance and winter distribution, with significant implications for populations. It is fascinating that successful and unsuccessful pairs nesting only a few metres apart in the colony can be separated by thousands of kilometres in the winter.”

This study used a tiny instrument (1.4g) known as a geolocator for tracking animal migration. During the 2007 breeding season, the team fitted 80 kittiwakes on the Isle of May NNR off the east coast of Scotland, with geolocators.

Geolocators were developed by BAS and have so far been used on animals such as geese, albatrosses, penguins and seals. They make regular recordings of light intensity, data which can be used to generate two geographical positions per day.

Co-author Francis Daunt, a seabird ecologist also from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology said, “Kittiwakes have declined substantially in the last 25 years over much of their range. Conservation efforts to protect wintering grounds should consider that winter distributions may be shifting as breeding failure is becoming more common.”

Maria and Francis visited St Abb's Head last summer to look at how possible it would be to catch kittiwakes and guillemots for radio tracking, work linked to studying the effects of offshore wind farms on seabird ecology.

The CEH website contains lots of interesting information, why not check it out at http://www.ceh.ac.uk/index.html. Picture top left, a colour ringed kittiwake on the Isle of May (colour rings make it possible to recognise individual birds)

Seabird Summary 2010

At last I have had time to draw together the results of all our hard work last summer monitoring the seabird population at St Abbs. Here is a summary:

Fulmar (picture left) A whole colony count of 175 Apparently Occupied Sites (AOS = a site with a bird sitting tightly on a reasonably horizontal area judged large enough to hold an egg). This is a decrease of 10% on last year (194 AOS) but similar to this and all the counts since 2004, but these counts are all below the 26-year mean (270 AOS).

Shag (picture right) A whole colony count of 157 Apparently Occupied Nests (AON = a well built nest capable of holding eggs with at least one bird in attendance). This is an increase of 14% on last year (138 AON) but similar to this and to all the counts since 2005, but these are all below the 26-year mean (256 AON). Although breeding success was not as good as last year it was exactly on the 21-year mean of 1.19 young fledged per active nest.

Herring Gull (picture left) A whole colony count of 296 AON was an increase of 64% on last year (180 AON). Some of this increase could be due to the count being carried out very early in the season, but the count was not dissimilar to those carried out over the last few years and is below the 26-year mean of 362 AON.

Kittiwake (picture right) A whole colony count of 4,744 AON was an increase of 3% on last year (4,616 AON) but less than half the 26-year mean of 11,102 AON. Although the breeding population has decreased by nearly three-quarters since 1989, the counts for the last couple of years are about the same as those from the 1950s. The breeding success of 0.48 young fledged per active nest is down on last year but a significant increase on the previous 3 years. However, still below the 24-year mean of 0.62.

Guillemot (picture left) Whole colony counts not carried out annually due to the large numbers involved, however a series of counts are made at fixed monitoring plots during the first three weeks of June and a figure for the sum of the plot means is calculated and compared with previous years. This year showed a decrease of 24% on last year but was similar to the two previous years but below the 26-year average.

Razorbill (picture right) Similar to guillemots whole colony counts not carried out annually, but counts made at fixed monitoring plots. A similar decrease to the guillemots, with numbers being 23% down on last year and below the 26-year average.

Puffin (picture left) The maximum number of birds ashore on an evening in late June are counted, this year there were just 9 which was slightly less than the last year (11) but in the same sort of region as the last 3 years.

So, all in all not really a very remarkable year, except that all the species are follwing a general downward trend from the glory years seen in the late 1980s and early 90s.

Footpath Update

Work on the Wuddy Steps is progressing pretty well (picture left). They have one problem though - the ground is very frozen, just what they came down from the mountains to avoid! This makes is difficult when trying to utilise topsoil to surface the path as it will not pack down as tight as usual. Plus, it means that the turfs that are used to help the works blend into the landscape are not packing down very well either. I have told the contractors that it is not usual for us here at the seaside, but that doesn't help them much!

Nevertheless, they are still hoping to finish the Wuddy Slope section by the middle of next week and move on up to the lighthouse from there. The guys tell me that they are getting a few regulars passing by each day, but were bemoaning that no-one had brought them any cakes. So, if you are a keen baker and fancy a walk, you know where to go!

First Footing?

We are starting the New Year with getting some footpath repairs done on the worst areas on the coast path. Work started at the Wuddy Steps yesterday with the four man team, led by Angus Turner, spending the whole day transporting a stockpile of suitable stones up from the beach at Burnmouth Harbour - no mean feat when you see the size of the stones that they are using (picture right - double click on the image and you can enlarge it)!

Those of you who are regulars on the property will know the Wuddy Steps well as they are so eroded that they seem to have been designed for use by giants! Consequently, they are so uncomfortable to use that most people don't bother, they pick their own route, which has resulted in the path getting very braided ie lots of different paths being formed. This is not only a bit of an eyesore, but also causes damage to our wildflower-rich grasslands.

We are using a technique called pitching, which is not quite cobbling, and not quite steps but where stone is dug into the ground to form an and easy to walk on yet erosion resistant surface. This technique is usually used for upland footpaths, and is very specialised work, so we have engaged Angus and his team, who are specialist upland footpath contractors to carry it out. We are also re -routing the path very slightly to take some of the gradient out of it. The lady in red in the picture to the left is demonstrating very nicely where the path should (and will) be!

Obviously, there will be a bit of a disruption to access to this area of the coast path whislt they are working, but you will be able to get past them, and feel free to ask questions, they will be happy to answer you. They will only be working on this area for about a week, then they will move up to do a couple of areas near the lighthouse. I will keep you posted on their progress.

Season's Greetings!

Just winding everything up ready to go off for my Christmas break. Obviously the property will be open for anyone to enjoy during the festive period, as it is all year round, but I am just making sure that things are in order, buildings drained down etc so that I don't have sleepless nights and/or emergency call outs over the holidays.

Here's wishing all our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,

Liza and Georgia.

Going off road

Headed up the lighthouse road yesterday afternoon as the sun was going down. No vehicle had been up the track except the farm's quad to feed the stock, and then it had only gone to the top of the slope heading down towards Petticowick - very sensible, but the resultant tracks did confuse the mind somewhat (picture right). Well, at least the bunnies knew the correct route!

In the bleak midwinter

So, today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year; which means from now on the days will be getting longer -cause for celebration in anyone's book I would say! A day on which the sun worshipping Norsemen of old would light bonfires and gather round them to tell stories and drink sweet ale; and the Romans would light candles, deck out their houses with greenery and even indulge in a little cross dressing!

Although I didn't partake of any of these activities as I did the rounds this morning, I did notice how the sun being so low in the sky makes the snow sparkle like diamonds and really brings out the reddy-purple colour of the old Devonian sandstone cliffs - stunning!

No wind today to bring the maritime air inland either, so the White Heugh is white with snow on top as well as guano on the ledges (picture left). If you look carefully you might see a few black spots on the ledges as there were a few guillemots on the cliffs again today.

Just visiting...

I go away for a few days holiday, leaving St Abb's Head looking like a winter wonderland, and I return just a few days later to find it all green again. And what do I see when I go up to the lighthouse - guillemots on the cliffs? Enough to make me feel like I have just woken up from a few months hibernation!

On the whole guillemots tend to disappear out to sea after they have finished breeding in July. Then they spend the winter out at sea, and return to their nest sites to start the whole breeding process again in April. But every now and again, some of the birds turn up on the cliffs during the winter months. No-one is really sure why they come back in, as they really are seabirds in the true sense of the word, being far better adapted for life on the briny than on land. And there doesn't seem to be any pattern to it either, so it is just a matter of chance as to whether you happen to see them or not. But it is a welcome sight (and sound!) when they are in, because however magnificent the coastline may look out of the seabird season, the cliffs still seem to be lacking a certain something!

Gorse you can Malcolm...

More snow, and its laying quite thick (well for us at St Abbs anyway). The lighthouse road is treacherous, white snow with a sheet of ice under it, and the Mire Loch is frozen over. Woodcock and snipe erupt from under your feet all over the place and there are also lapwing and curlew feeding where ever the snow is thinnest.

Whilst walking up the Mire Dean track - blooming hard work at the best of times, but today made it a "one step forward, two steps back" affair with the ice - this stalwart little gorse bush, still resolutely in flower, caught my eye. It reminded me of the old adage "when the gorse is out of bloom, kissing's out of fashion". Well thank goodness for that little ray of positivity to help me up the hill - and a great way to keep warm too, as is walking up hills!

A new addition at St Abbs

There's one thing this snow does for you, it makes you appreciate the little things in life! Today two men struggled through the snow just to bring us a new bit of kit - an all singing, all dancing integrated scanner/printer/fax machine. Now normally this would not be the cause of so much jubilation, but as we have been working away in our lonely little office for what seems like weeks, not seeing a sole from one day to the next it was most exciting to hear a vehicle draw up outside the door! And also rather heart warming to think that there are still companies around who appreciate the value of good customer service. The machine is a bit of a monster, but as it sits between my desk and Georgia's, the added bonus is that we can have a game of peekaboo whenever we want!

Seeing it coming...

One of the great things about St Abb's Head is that you have a panoramic view so you can see what weather is coming your way...sometimes the news is not good! Red sky at night - happy shepherds, but what about purple, green and black?!

Now you see it now you don't!

As the rest of the country is thrown into turmoil by a thick covering of snow, we at St Abbs find it quite difficult to really appreciate what all the fuss is about, especially when we have onshore winds (see picture taken earlier today, top left)!

The air over the sea is warmed by the relatively warm water (which is at about 6 degrees at the moment), and the onshore winds bring this warm, salt laden air onto the land and thaws any snow that has settled. The stronger the wind, the further this maritime influence comes in land. And its quite breezy today, as the picture on the right shows, so there is no snow within about 100m of the shore (except where the cliffs are higher as this interferred with the airflow).

However, if you do decide to come to the seaside to appreciate the warm breezes, I fear you may be disappointed, its pretty parky as the wind chill is fierce. And also don't go zooming up the lighthouse road looking for the perfect vantage point, as the road is far enough from the sea only to be passable by tractors and rabbits (picture bottom left)!

Snow at St Abb's Head...again!

You may well be thinking that this is nothing surprising as much of the east side of the UK is gripped by snow. However, we seldom get it here at St Abbs because of our proximity to the sea; the warming maritime influence usually stops it from settling. In fact, the picture on the left shows quite nicely that we here on the coastal strip have less snow than just a little way further inland.

It may be coincidence, but we do seem to have had much more snow since Georgia arrived in the area. In fact, the day she moved hearalded the most snow that St Abbs had seen for decades! Sadly, she has not quite acclimatised to the temperature yet, and our office gets particularly chilly when the wind is in the north, but she soldiers on (picture right).

So, what do you do in the winter?

A question oft asked of us rangers, and I'm sure people think that we just sit around twiddling our thumbs - but that couldn't be further from the truth. There may not be quite so much wildlife or so many visitors around, but this means we have time to carry out all the other tasks that are involved in managing a nature reserve. Usually, the winter is over and the new season has begun long before we have got to the bottom of our "to do" lists!

Last week was a case in point. I had a site visit from an NTS Nature Conservation Advisor to review our biological monitoring on the Reserve; an architect to advise us on repairing the boat house on the Mire Loch; and an NTS Rural Surveyor to discuss grazing management and applying for funding from the Scottish Rural Development Programme. And that was just on one day! The rest of the week was taken up with footpath work with our weekly volunteers; writing and giving a talk to a local WRI; having a site visit with several specialist footpath contractors so that they can tender for carrying out work on the coast path; putting the final touches to next year's budget; and having a site visit with Scottish Natural Heritage to seek permission to carry out the proposed footpath work on our highly designated reserve. Phew!

In the mean time, Georgia is busily beavering away, putting together funding applications, as part of her role is to raise funds to support her post. She is employed on a fixed term contract dependent on funding, and the current funding package finishes at the end of next February...so no pressure there then! So if anyone has a spare few quid, Georgia can put it to good use!

No rest for the wicked, as they say. But it keeps us out of mischief! Also quite a lot of weather around last week too, the picture above was taken on Friday at Burnmouth Harbour (on the reserve, not at Burnmouth!). There was no wind at all that day, but it had been blowing an absolute hoolie the two previous days - spectacular!

Its hard work being a supermodel

As I have said in one of my earlier posts, life as a Ranger is always varied, often busy and sometimes surreal, and yesterday was a prime example!

A Wednesday, so the volunteers were coming to help out and Georgia had a university group coming for a site vi st. Sadly she had to go to a family funeral so I stepped in; not a problem, as I'm used to having to talk to groups off the cuff, but it did mean that I had to rethink what I was going to do with the volunteers. I was hoping to do a bit of gorse cutting and burning (where it is spreading out and taking over our flora rich grasslands), but this would be out on the Reserve and the group were coming to the Visitor Centre. So, I decided we would start on some vegetation clearance at the Visitor Centre car park instead so I could be on hand for safety reasons for the volunteers and also talk to the students about managing coastal and marine nature reserves at the same time. I was just about to start up the strimmer and have a go at some brambles before the students turned up when a photographer arrived ready to take some photos for the spring edition of the Trust's magazine. He had left messages on our answerphone but we never got them as, unbeknownst to us, there was a fault with the system!

So, after a little veg clearance and discussion about the potential implications of the new UK and Scottish Marine Acts; the volunteers, myself and the photographer went off for an impromptu photo shoot. And this is where it really became a bit surreal, perching on barnacle covered rocks with the sea breaking behind you and water lapping around your ankles; the low winter sun burning your eyeballs; freezing to death as we had to strip down to show off our logos; and being told not to squint or move as the photographer was using a slow shutter speed to catch the movement of the sea. I'm sure it will be worth it, but we will have to wait until next spring to see the end results!

Thanks to Dave and John for all their patience. Photo top - what the photo looks like in my minds eye.

Life in general

So, what's been going on it the last couple of weeks? The car has been recovered from over the cliff which is great. Sadly recovering it resulted in more damage than when it was pushed over, but hopefully the scars in the grassland will heal when the growing season starts again in the spring. All in all, a lot of effort was put into the job, with one member of the recovery team (Alan) toiling up and down the cliff track (some 300 foot climb) on several occasions carrying bags full of debris and the battery to make sure that the foreshore was left as clean as it could be. And it was all done very swiftly before the car got swept into the sea.

And all this happened just after the repair to the lighthouse road had been completed with the erection of a new fence (picture right). As you can imagine, I wasn't very keen on the recovery vehicles going up the lighthouse road as I didn't want a repeat performance of the oil tanker, but conditions were just too rough to get the wreckage out by sea so there was no other option. Anyway, the road looks very smart now, and we will be keeping the 2m axel width restriction on the road from now on to be safe.

Wildlife wise. There are plenty of migrants moving around with skeins of geese passing daily. We have had a few waxwing (picture left) sightings too, and a flock of 9 whooper swans flying about. So always worth taking the bins with you. And that's what I'm going to do now - get out there and see what's about!

Oh - and top tip for the day. If you have a padlock that will just not shift however much you persuade and squirt it with WD40 - heat it up, it works a treat (thanks to my brother in law for that little gem)!

End of season volunteers day out

A big part of the Marine Reserve’s work is to raise awareness of the marine environment; why it’s so special and why we should look after it. We run lots of educational events throughout the summer for schools, community groups and visitors to find out about the special wildlife in the coastal waters around St Abbs and Eyemouth. It’s been a busy season with 58 events taking place and 1,180 people getting involved. All that rockpooling action is too much for a Marine Ranger to do alone! So I’ve been lucky enough to have the help of some hardworking volunteers who’ve made my job a whole lot easier. To show my appreciation of all the time they’ve put in I organised a trip to Deep Sea World in Edinburgh for a fun (and educational!) day out. Thanks guys, I couldn’t do it without you!

COAST symposium on the Isle of Arran

I’ve just returned from the Isle of Arran where COAST (Community Of Arran Seabed Trust) hosted a conference entitled ‘Empowering Coastal Community Stakeholders’. The event was attended by academics, community groups, NGOs and government bodies working at the forefront of marine conservation in the UK and abroad. The aim of the meeting was to make connections between interest groups focussing in marine environmental protection and sustainable marine exploitation.

The conference was unanimous in support for protecting various aspects of marine interests from a multitude of different directions; this inspiring feeling is gaining momentum, and several key personnel from Scottish Natural Heritage and Marine Scotland were present. There were also various dignitaries including an MSP and an MP. My personal highlight of the weekend was a presentation by Callum Roberts from the University of York about the historical context of stock decline in the Firth of Clyde which generated a good debate amongst attendees.

It is hoped that the VMR will play an active role in future debates between coastal stakeholder groups and form positive links with other organisations. For more information about the event and COAST, please visit their website http://www.arrancoast.com/