Trees are us!

This week is Borders Tree Hugging week - no, I haven't made it up, its an event being organised by Borders Forest Trust for raise awareness (and funds) to help with the conservation of the woodlands of the area. And, being a bit of a tree fan myself, I have thrown myself into this with gusto, and I decided to start off at St Abbs. "Trees at St Abbs", I hear you cry, "you must be joking?!" Well, I'm not - believe it or not there are actually 33 different types of trees on the species list for the National Nature Reserve. So I decided, what better way to start off Tree Hugging Week than to remind myself (and others!) of all the fabulous trees that are right here on our doorstep.

Most of the trees at St Abb's Head are concentrated around the Mire Loch, planted here in the early 1900s when the dam was built to form the loch for fishing. But there is also quite a concentration at the car park (where the old farmhouse and its gardens used to be) and around Northfield House. So, I decided to take a circular route from the car park, along the coast path (passing alongside Northfield House gardens, where a fair few trees overhang the wall), then around the Mire Loch and back to the car park again. Without having to deviate far from the path I managed to hug 21 different species of tree of all sorts of sizes. From the knarled and wind-sculpted hawthorns of an old hedgeline (probably pre-dating the Mire Loch) to the east of the Mire Loch (picture top left) to the newly planted ash along the west of the loch (picture right).

Purists might tut and shake their heads to see so many types of trees in the area that would not naturally be here. For instance, most of the mature trees around the Mire Loch are sycamore, which are not native to Britain. But at St Abbs they form an important part of the woodland habitat and we are happy to have them. Having said that, when we do plant more trees, we are sticking to native species these days.

So, why not get out on the reserve this weekend and see how many types of tree you can spot (and hug if you fancy!)? We have put some laminated ID sheets in the visitor centre to help you use leaves, twigs and seeds to tell what is what. It can be tricky sometimes, as the windy and salty conditions at St Abbs have resulting in trees taking on weird and wonderful shapes (see the larch pictured left). But you don't actually need to know what they are called in order to enjoy them, so don't so tied up in looking at the ID guides that you miss the beauty of the trees themselves!

For those of you who like tick lists, here is a list of the species I hugged: alder, ash, beech, silver birch, blackthorn, wild cherry, elder, hawthorn, hazel, horse chestnut, larch, pedunculate oak, osier, scots pine, rowan, sitka spruce, sycamore, common whitebeam, goat willow, crack willow, yew.

If you would like to find out more about Tree Hugging Week or the BFT, go to http://www.bordersforesttrust.org/support-us/tree-hugging-week

Basking shark is back!

Myself and many others saw a rare sight yesterday as another basking shark was seen in the area!! Though slightly late in the year for them to be around, this time the shark was seen at the mouth of St Abbs harbour where is lazily swam feeding! My dad with his eagle eyes spotted the shark by seagull rock. Though we could only see its dorsal fin and occasionally its tail fin it was still great to watch! A few divers on two of the dive boats spotted the shark as well and got some amazing views as it swam in between their boats!

Unfortunately my camera isn't great, though I did manage to snap some pictures of its dorsal fin as it came to the surface to feed. It was also spotted in Eyemouth after it left St Abbs so if your in the area keep your eyes out for a black dorsal fin!!

MINKE MAGIC

Yesterday evening, during another beautiful sunset over the Firth of Forth, I got a perfect view of Lorna's Species of the Month, a Minke Whale! I have never seen one before and it is a magical experience. As it was such a lovely evening and unusually calm at the Head I decided to chill out on the cliff at the edge of Foul Bay, just northwest of the Lighthouse and enjoy the sunset. The usual suspects were about, juvenile gulls, a couple of Greater Black Backs, the odd Shag doing a fly by and plenty of Gannet commuting to and from the Bass Rock. The sea was so calm despite a slight swell and the high tide was on the turn.

Just out of the corner of my eye I saw a dark shadow and a little spray. I saw nothing through the binoculars so thought I was imagining things. Same thing happened again. And then by pure coincidence I managed to get the binoculars on the right spot just in time to see a full blow, followed by a graceful arch of a massive black back through the water showing the small dorsal fin and a final flick of a huge tail fluke! I could not believe my eyes. It was so close I even saw its nostrils (or the whale equivalent!). At that point it was very close in, it was near two white buoys, which I assume were marking the position of some lobster pots. After that it hung around for a good 20 minutes surfacing occassionally. I saw some spray and the tip of its nose but I didn't get anymore amazing views.

What a magical moment and a perfect way to end a wonderful season here.

Species of the month - the Minke Whale!

There have been quite a few sightings recently of Minke Whales off St Abbs head!! With so many minkes spotted here is a bit of info for you all about these magnificant mammals and how to identify them.

Minke whales have a world wide distribution and are found in tropical, temperate and polar seas. They can be spotted from Norway to France and in the Northern North sea, where they can be seen in small numbers mainly from May to October.

Minke whales are the most abundant of the baleen whales as well as the smallest. The males range from 7-9.8m in length and the females are slightly larger from 7.5-11m! The head of a minke whale is slender, triangular and pointed.

The feature to look for to idenitify minke whales is their dorsal fin which is situated 2/3rds along their back and is small, triangular and curved in shape and is often the only feature seen when they are swimming. The head and body are dark in colour from grey to black. Another distinctive feature to look for if your up close or have binoculars are the white markings on each flipper.

The jaw of a baleen whale has approx. 300 short smooth baleen plates used to filter food from the water! The whales often ‘lunge feed’ where they lunge towards their prey at high speeds. Minke whales can reach speeds of 30km/hr! They feed on fish such as herring, cod, capelin, saithe, haddock, whiting and sand eels. In polar regions they feed on plankton or krill.

In the northern hemisphere reproduction takes place from October to March and gestation is about 10 months. Some whales migrate from polar feeding grounds to temperate water breeding grounds. Females normally give birth to a single calf but a very small percent give birth to twins or triplets!

Minke whales can be seen in small groups or as solitary individuals but they may congregate in larger feeding groups where up to 15 minke whales may come together at once! They also sometimes spy hop and breach and some curious individuals may even investigate boats.

During the 1930s in the northern hemisphere and the 1970s in the Antarctic minke whales were major targets of the whaling industry. In 1986 they were given protection from commercial whaling. Despite this Iceland continued their whale fishery until 1993 and in 1998 Norway resumed catching minke whales. Another concern for these large mammals is entanglement in fishing nets and traps. Some minke whales become entangled in fish cage nets.

This cetacean species can be seen quite regularly at the moment feeding off St Abbs Head or passing by. So if your planning a visit to St Abbs over the next few weeks keep an eye out for these incredible creatures.

Photogrpagh shown by Christopher Swann and taken from www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk

Party time!!!

Come and party with us at a fundraising ceilidh on Saturday 22nd October, Coldingham Village Hall! All profits being split 50:50 between the Voluntary Marine Reserve and St Abbs RNLI :)

A joining of nations

Last weekend saw another handfasting ceremony at St Abbs, and it appears that we are on the international map as far as suitable locations to get married are concerned. This occasion saw a German groom joined to a Spanish bride and so the ceremony contained four languages: English, Gaelic, German and Spanish!

The wedding was relatively kind to the happy couple, Thomas and Lucia, as it was not blowing a force 5 and raining as the forecast threatened. I think Thomas and Lucia would have preferred a calm sunny day, but I rather think that the moody sky in the background rather added to the atmosphere!

Splash In 2011

Last weekend the St Abbs and Eyemouth VMR hosted the 24th Splash In underwater photography competition! The winning photo was taken by Martin Davies of two pollack on the wreck of the Glanmire. To see all of the images entered visit out flickr page. http://www.flickr.com/photos/30592553@N03/sets/72157627569341202/

Sarah takes pARTicipate project into the next phase

Those of you who are regular followers of the blog will remember I alluded to a local visual artist coming to spend time at St Abbs to work on the visual side of the pARTicipate project (which aims to celebrate the specialness of the NNR and VMR via art). Well, Sarah Riseborough (pictured top), started her period as Artist in Residence at the beginning of the week.

During her residency, Sarah will be making work from materials found on site, working in harmony with nature, leaving nothing permanent behind, and doing no damage to the reserve. Sarah will be based at the Old School Community Centre, in St Abbs village, one or two days per week. She would very much like input from residents and visitors alike to help her develop stories and ideas as to what makes the nature reserves so special to so many people. Please pop in and see her at the Old School, stop her when you see her out and about around the reserves, or contact her at sarahinresidence@btinternet.com.

Here's a short biography of Sarah to help you get to know her a bit better:

Sarah is an artist living and working in North Northumberland. Having pursued a painting career for 10 years, exhibiting in private galleries and taking commissions, she recently returned to higher education and graduated from the fine art degree course at Northumbria University and will soon embark upon the MA. Sarah has taken part in both local national exhibitions, and more recently assisted with the organisation of Seahouses Festival and Network Art Tour. During her course she has explored themes of time, consciousness and movement which relate strongly, she feels, to work on the pARTicipate project.

Sarah says “Erosion, evolution, migration and the way we perceive and relate to the reserves are sources of fascination for me. The project offers me the opportunity to, not only directly, represent the reserve in a traditional visual manner, but to respond to the rhythms of the place, and obtain a greater sense of its significance in the wider world through the migrations of people, animals and plants. This is a very exciting opportunity for me to take the themes I have developed in formal education and apply them in the wider world."

Species of the month - the Oceanic Sunfish!

Over the last couple of weeks there have been a couple of sightings what I think is an amazing and unusual fish: the Oceanic Sunfish! They are not often seen around these parts, so I thought I'd give you all a bit of information on our new species of the month.

The Oceanic Sunfish is otherwise known as Mola mola, can be found in all tropical and temperate waters and is one of only three species of sunfish. It is the worlds heaviest bony fish and the largest Mola ever recorded weighed 2235kg, was 4.26m tall and 3.1m in length!

It has a compressed body with long fins and the tail fin is actually an extension of the dorsal and anal fins. Amazingly the skin is so thick that it is believed to be bullet proof against a .22 calibre bullet!

The sunfish is well known for 'basking' in the sun on the surface of the water which is how it is often sighted. This behaviour is thought to be a way to remove parasites from its skin (which are eaten by birds or fish!) or possibly just a way to warm itself up. They are slow swimmers, drifting with the current and can dive up to 600m deep. The ocean sunfish feeds on jellyfish as well as some crustaceans and fish.

Sunfishes are also very fecund meaning the females produce many many many eggs! An adult female can carry up to 300 million tiny eggs!! So look closely next time your sea watching, you never know, you may spot a sunfish basking on the surface!

Photograph by Mike Johnson @ www.earthwindow.com/mola.html

They think its all over...but they're wrong!

As the vast majority of the seabirds have disappeared from our cliffs and have headed out to sea, where they spend most of their lives, most people think that it is not worth coming to St Abb's Head for a seabird experience at this time of year. But actually there is still plenty to watch, particularly those species that are overlooked in the height of the season because the hoards of bustling guillemots and kittiwakes steal the limelight!

If you look down at the bottom of the cliffs, on flat-topped rocks and wide ledges, you will see large dark birds with long necks. These are shags, and they are always worth watching. Shags are the earliest of our seabirds to nest, laying up to 3 eggs as early as March, and quite often there are still juveniles at or around the nest right the way through till September. Shags build big untidy nests of twigs, seaweed, vegetation and, well, anything they can find really; they often utitlise bits of marine litter too. The picture on the left is a shag I spotted on the Farnes who had built itself a real des res! And the birds spend a lot of time tending to their nests, rearranging things, bringing in new material and quite often stealing material from their neighbour's nests when they are not looking! And quite often the twigs that are brought in are a little too long to be practical, and the scene is like the classic slapstick routine with a builder carrying a long plank and knocking people over!

At this time of year you see large groups of juveniles standing about on the rocks, which is somewhat reminiscent of groups of youths hanging around on shop corners (picture right). In fact, I have just googled "collective noun for shags" and, apart from the obvious collection of crudeness, one offering was a "hangout" of shags, which seems highly appropriate! There is often a certain amount of squabbling and jostling for space which is fun to watch. And when they are not "hanging out" on the rocks they are learning the art of catching fish in the shallow inshore waters around their breeding site, before they disperse further afield.

So, not only are the shags a veritable soap opera to watch, but it is worth searching out the fulmar nests too. These oft overlooked birds nest further up the cliffs on small flat ledges often in cracks between rocks. Actually, nest seems rather a grand word for the small scraping with maybe a few bits of vegetation that they make do with. Fulmars are the last birds to nest in the colony; one egg is laid in mid to late May, and this is incubated for 50 odd days and then it is another 50 odd days before the chicks fledge so it means that there are fulmar chicks on the cliffs at the moment. There is certainly not much action as far as fulmar chicks are concerned (unless you get too close, in which case you may be on the receiving end of a stream rancid fish oil!), but they win the cute competition as far as I am concerned, being basically a round ball of fluff with a small head perched on the top! The picture on the left illustrates how tricky they are to spot sometimes, but worth searching out for sure!

And that's just the seabirds that are still breeding. If you look out to sea there is a constant steady stream of gannets flying up and down the coast in search of fish, when they find a shoal then they plunge dive spectacularly into the water to spear them with their 6 inch, pointed beaks. And then there are terns diving in a more delicate fashion in the shallow bays and shearwaters, petrels and skuas that are on passage out to sea.

So, all in all, still quite a seabird spectacle to be seen at St Abbs, I think you'll agree!

Everythings gone to seed...

Why does that phrase have such negative connotations? Sometimes it can be quite beautiful, as I hope these pictures I took today illustrate.

Basking shark!!!

A 15ft long basking shark was spotted today between St Abb's Head and St Abbs Harbour by a sea-kayaker! Lets just hope it stays around for our seawatching event on Sunday!

St Abb's to benefit from Newman's Own grant

You may have heard the good news in the press that the National Trust for Scotland fundraising department have been successful in securing a very generous grant from the Newman’s Own Foundation.

The grant of £50,000 will be used to support Marine Ranger position and the work of the Voluntary Marine Reserve in achieving its aims of conserving the marine environment and getting more people involved in its management. The VMR is entirely dependent on grants and donations so we are very grateful to have received this vital funding.

I am still waiting to hear confimrmation of the finer details of the grant but I just wanted to confirm this excellent news with you and keep you in the picture. More details to follow when I have them!

Fighting the good fight...

We have been waging war with various invaders over the last few weeks. Not little green men from outer space, but a couple of plants that are making a bid to take over our flora-rich grasslands - namely creeping thistle and ragwort. And this year I have enlisted the help of as many people as I can.

Our regular volunteers (John, Dave and Ernie) have been thwacking away at the thistles for the last few weeks, as have Elaine and I whenever we have a spare hour or so. Then at the weekend we had a residential group of Conservation Volunteers (CVs) from the Trust's Lothian and Grampian groups; 12 hardy folk who persevered through the relentless rain in order to help out with both thistle control on the NNR and also marine litter clearance and surveys on the shores of the VMR. Sadly I have no pictures as the weather was just too foul to get the camera out! They were joined on the Saturday by the Trust's Director Of Human Resources who lives not too far away and wanted to experience St Abbs from the sharp end (pun most definitely intended!). Then yesterday a group of students from Berwick High School came to the Head to add to the thistle mortality rate, as part of their John Muir Award activites (picture top left). And this morning Dave, Ernie, Elaine and I have pulled all the ragwort that has been growing in our butterfly exclosure on the Kirk Hill (see Dave looking particularly pleased with a large specimen that he had pulled up in the picture to the right.

Phew! As you can see, volunteers have a huge impact on what we can do at St Abbs, and, in fact the Trust as a whole, which could not do what it does so well as Scotland's largest conservation charity without the help of our volunteers. So a big thank you to you all.

If you would like to find out more about volunteering for the Trust go to the volunteering section on our website at http://www.nts.org.uk/Volunteering/ .

We have recently taken on three additional volunteers at St Abbs, but more about them at a later date!

A spot of cetacean searching

Well it was far too nice a day for being in the office so Lorna and I decided to head out for a coastal walk and a bit of seawatching to see what was about. There have been quite a few reports of cetacean sightings lately (whales, dolphins, porpoises) so we were hopeful that we might be lucky.

Conditions were a wee bit windy for ideal seawatching but visibility was excellent with Berwick Law and Bass Rock well visible on the horizon. We noticed several large aggregations of seabirds on the surface which are usually a good indication of the prescence of cetaceans. This is because cetaceans hunt for small fish and force them up towards the surface and seabirds take advantage of this 'rounding up' for a feeding feast.

Despite watching for a good while we sadly didn't spot any cetaceans. There was however plenty of other interesting things to see: gannets; fulmars; kittiwake fledglings practicing their new flying skills; razorbills and on the walk back hundreds of butterflies and wildflowers so it was a great day out on St Abb's Head National Nature Reserve.

If you fancy trying a bit of cetacean searching yourself why not join myself, Lorna and other volunteers at our 'Searching for Cetaceans' event on 7th August? We will be watching from the south side of the lighthouse compound at St Abb's Head from 11am - 4pm. The event is totally free, just drop in any time and help us search!

Here is a photo of Lorna showing how it's done!

Music to the ears?

A couple of weeks back we headed into the second phase of our pARTicipate project. This was when the school children from Coldingham and Eyemouth primary schools got a chance to have a show an tell session with Howard Moody, our composer for the project, and Kirsten Hunter from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (pictured left).

The children were recounting their visit to St Abb's Head, their experiences observing, listening to and recording the seabirds and the "sonic postcards" that they put together to portray their experiences in sound. Howard then spent some time working with the children on some composition - using sounds from their recordings and words that the children used to describe their thoughts and feelings about the wildlife of St Abbs. A fantastic experience for all involved.

But this was only part of what Howard and Kirsten had come to St Abbs for. They were also wanting to spend time in the area, learning more about the coastal and marine reserves and experiencing what is special about them (picture right, exploring the site of St Aebbe's Monastery). But also exploring the wider locality, learning more about the history of the area and the links between man and the sea and the sea's wildlife. And meeting with people locally to see if they would like to be involved in the project, like the local Fishermen's Choir and the Mission Crew singing group. In total Howard and Kirsten spent three days in the area, and during that time I think they really became inspired by how amazing this small part of the Berwickshire coast really is.

The next phase is for Howard to star work on his composition. He intends to return for a few short visits in the autumn and spring to work with the local community, and by May or June next year the Scottish Chamber Orchestra will be showcasing the new composition on their South of Scotland Tour.

If you would like to find out more about Howard Moody and/or the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, here are the links http://www.howardmoody.net/index.html and http://www.sco.org.uk/ .

GUIDED WALKS AT ST. ABB'S HEAD

I do hope you can join me (Elaine, Seasonal Ranger here!) for one of two walks I will be giving soon. These walks will be held at an easygoing pace so we can get more intimate with the wonderful wildlife here and really enjoy the stunning scenery on offer. At this time of year we should see several species of butterfly and bumble bee, wildflowers, some remaining seabirds and the odd cetacean if we're lucky! But you never know what you could bump into here, so be prepared for any encounter. I also hope to inform you of the turbulent geological past and of the cultural legacy left by St. Aebbe herself.

SUNDAY 31ST JULY 2011
THURSDAY 4TH AUGUST 2011
TIME: 13.30 until 16.30
PLACE: St. Abb’s Head Car Park, grid ref: NT913673
PRICE: £3 per adult, £2 per child, free for NTS members.

No booking required.
Please wear walking boots/sturdy footwear and wear appropriate outdoor clothing.
Children must be accompanied by an adult.
CONTACT: tel: 018907 71443 email: EOMahony@nts.org.uk

Sad sight at the marine reserve yesterday

Lorna and I came across a very sad sight at Coldingham Bay yesterday. A dead shag tangled up in a fishing lure. This bird had obviously got the lure caught in its bill whilst diving for a fish and then in its panic used its feet to try and remove it and caught them too and so drowned and died a really horrible death. Its things like this which should make us all more aware of how we dispose of our litter, not just fishing tackle but plastic bags, rope etc. so that other marine creatures do not suffer the same fate as this poor bird. If you would like to help tackle marine litter by taking part in beach or underwater clean up then please get in touch with me, cheers gconolly@nts.org.uk

Hi everyone! I'm Lorna, the voluntary marine ranger here for the summer so here's a little bit about myself. I have almost completed my undergraduate degree in Marine Biology and Oceanography at Newcastle University (Graduation soon!) and volunteering here is a great experience and a chance to put to work all that I've been taught these last few years!
I've been coming to this little part of the world for a few years now exploring the scuba diving sites and it is my absolute favourite place to dive (I have quite a soft spot for diving Cathedral Rock despite the long walk around the harbour!). I was very excited and lucky to have seen a John Dory on my last dive at the reserve! And I spotted my first nudibranch which was very exciting for me! Hopefully this summer there will be more opportunities for diving.
So far everything has been great fun as I'm sure the rest of the summer will be too. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone else over the summer and will see you all around the reserve!

In the pink

Last week as I was heading along the lighthouse road when a strange sight met my eyes - the sea at Petticowick was pink! A blink, a shake of the head, and yes...it was still pink (see left)! Basically all this colour was caused by a whole load of moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) being washed in shore by the tide and being caught up in the bay there.

There have been a lot of jellies around this year; nobody is really sure why you get these blooms of jellies, but it may be to do with decreasing fish stocks meaning there are fewer predators around to eat them. And phenomena such as these can have surprising knock on effects - who would have thought that jellyfish could cause Torness nuclear power station to have to be shut down...twice? Basically the huge smacks (the collective noun) of jellyfish were blocking up the filters on the intake pipes for the cooling water for the plant. I personally always get a bit of a buzz out of nature reminding us that we cannot control everything!

I have a bit of a soft spot for jellyfish (no pun intended) - I think they have got a bad reputation with many people being scared of them or at the very least disliking them for their stinging ways. But if you see them literally in their element they are extraordinarily beautiful (see right), their bell-shaped bodies pulsing to propel themselves through the water and their delicate tentacles catching the light.

There are 6 main types of jellyfish that are found in UK waters, and all of them sting, but some have stings so mild that they cannot be felt by us humans with our thick skin (moon jellies have a sting of a similar strength to a nettle). And they are an important part of the food chain with many iconic marine animals (like whales, dolphins and turtles) relying on them for their survival. And our jellyfish are not just important to UK species. Did you know that each year leatherback turtles make a beeline from their breeding grounds in the tropics to UK waters, just to feast on our jellies, and then they head back down south to breed again? No short journey, so an illustration of the importance of this food source.

So next time you see a jellyfish caught in a rockpool of washed up on a beach, maybe you will look at it through different eyes. If you would like to do your bit towards conservation of species like the leatherback turtle, why not take part in the Marine Conservation Society's jellyfish survey http://www.mcsuk.org/what_we_do/Wildlife+protection/Report+wildlife+sightings/MCS+Jellyfish+Survey .

Minke whales about!

Minke whales were spotted off Coldingham Bay yesterday! Here is a photo of one so you know what to look out for. They have a distinctive dorsal fin situated nearly two thirds along their back.

Flower Power

Last week myself and Elaine went up to Dunblane to attend the Trust's annual Wildlfower ID course. This is an in house course organised by Lindsay Mackinlay from our Nature Conservation to help Countryside staff hone their botanical ID skills. Lindsay also brought in 3 experts from the BSBI (Botanical Society for the British Isles) to help advise us on some of the trickier areas of ID.

The weather on the first day was kind, and, as you can see in the picture above, we rather took over the local park, hogging the benches and generally behaving in a peculiar way - reading out passages out of ID books in a strange botanical language and peering closely at things with handlenses. We were concentrating on being able to identify all the parts of a flower and use an ID key on common plants, and you could almost hear the locals mumbling "well I can tell the that's a buttercup without looking in a book" as they passed us by!

Day two was less kind - it was tipping it down! So we ventured out, picked some plants, and brought them back in the dry to ID. Then, in the afternoon we headed into Dollar Glen to ID some species in the fantastic woodland there. Unfortunately, Elaine and I had to head back to St Abbs at this stage as we had commitments here, but, as usual, we came away inspired, enlightened and having had a chance to explore another one of the Trust's amazing properties.

BUTTERFLY BONANZA

Butterfly season at St. Abb's is finally underway. Today, for the first time since the beginning of May, I was able to complete a butterfly transect in full sunshine without having to dodge between clouds and rain showers (and thunder storms!). As part of my monitoring duties I must complete one butterfly transect per week and submit the complete dataset to Butterfly Conservation at the end of the season. They compile nation-wide statistics each year to determine the health of our butterfly populations and to inform environmental policy.

What sounds like the best job in the world has left me despairing over the last month or so. Because our work forms part of a nationwide survey, we can only monitor on particular days where there is over 60% sunshine and no wind or rain so that our data is comparable with data from around the country and with previous years. There have been days that have started out beautifully sunny but by the time I've walked to the starting point of the survey, black menacing clouds have appeared from nowhere and I've had to turn around and head straight back to the office! So today was a real pleasure. It was a perfect day weather wise and butterfly wise...8 species and 75 individuals. Dark Green Fritillary, Ringlet and Grayling appeared on a transect for the first time this season. I want to say a big THANK YOU to all the visitors who have been telling me about their butterfly sightings around the reserve. It has been so helpful to be forewarned before I have to do an official transect so I have time to gen up on the different species.

3 become 4 at St Abbs!

Summer is a busy time of year at the Marine Reserve, so each year the Marine Reserve takes on a Voluntary Marine Ranger to assist over the busy summer months. This year’s recruit is recent Marine Biology graduate, Lorna Hall from Sunderland.

Lorna will be joining the St Abbs Ranger team to assist Marine Ranger, Georgia Conolly in the management of the Voluntary Marine Reserve and also Liza and Elaine in management of the National Nature Reserve. Whilst she is helping to lighten the heavy summer workload she will also be getting on-the-job training and gaining valuable experience in managing a Marine Nature Reserve.

Lorna is a keen scuba diver and her favourite dive site is Cathedral Rock. Here is a photo of Lorna so you know who to look out for over the summer months.

GERONIMO!

Sorry to double up on topics folks but I had to add my personal experience of the Guillemot jumplings. I had never witnessed this astounding wildlife spectacle before and it absolutely lived up to expectations.

Last Tuesday evening (14th) I spent an emotional two hours watching many gorgeous, cute and fluffy chicks fling themselves off the top of Foul Carr (one of the large stacks in Foul Bay, near the Lighthouse). First of all they had to fight their way through many hundreds and thousands of grumpy and snappy adult birds to get to the edge of the colony. Then they had to take quite a leap of faith, and literally hurl themselves off the edge of the stack from a height of anywhere between 100 and 300 odd feet! The ones who were lucky enough to survive that fall then had to negotiate between the greedy gulls, who were patrolling the bottom of the stacks in a very menacing fashion.

I witnessed all manner of journeys. Some chicks were beautifully accompanied by their father, who would stay on the lower side of the chick as they made their way to the edge, so that when the chick lost its balance, the father was able to shield it from falling over the edge before it was ready. When the chick finally found the edge and looked ready to jump, the father would fly down to the sea and call to the chick to encourage it. Some chicks completed amazing swan dives to make a text book landing in the water. Other chicks weren't quite so graceful and tumbled head over heels the entire way over the face of the stack, to land in the water dazed and confused.

What a terrifying rite of passage these very young birds have to go through. Although watching this spectacle is fairly traumatic (not as traumatic as for the birds!), it is really breathtaking and worth making the effort for. Hopefully there will be lots more action over the next few evenings.

New toys!

I have been out testing out a new toy...I mean, piece of equipment... that I bought with a donation we received from the Edinburgh Members' Centre - a digiscoping kit. This is basically a telescope (which we needed anyway for our seabird monitoring), a compact digital camera (which is always handy) and the wherewithall for attaching the two together so that we can take pictures down the scope. A little overcast, which was not brilliant as the more you magnify, the more light you need but I think the results were pretty good too for a first outing (see above).

Also, when we took our small inflatable boat onto the water the other day we discovered that the transom (the board at the back that the outboard attaches to) was rotten and bowing under the strain of the weight of the outboard. However, we have been kindly offered a small (3.6m) RIB on permanent loan, the opnly problem is that we do not have a trailer or an outboard. So this is a request to see if there is anyone out there who has a suitable trailer and/or outboard (min 15hp, max 25 hp 2 stroke) that we can borrow. If so, maybe you cou;d let us know as soon as possible as we would like to get out and finish counting our seabirds from the sea!

Cheers!

The joint is jumping!

So, I was out last night and there were a few guillemot chicks jumping so that's the beginning of the end of this year's seabird breeding season. If you want to experience the jumping then I would suggest coming and checking it out in the next few days at dusk.

Chalk and cheese...

Well, I am oft heard to say that two days are never the same in the life of a Ranger...well the last two days have definitely been a prime example of how different two days can be.

Yesterday myself and Elaine went down to the Farne Islands for a their Management Committee Meeting which included a trip over to the islands to see the seabirds. Always good to share experiences with our colleagues from the National Trust south of the Border, on our neighbouring seabird colony. The sea was calm, the sky (mostly) blue, and the seabird experience just about as great as it can be on the Farnes with all the birds madly feeding chicks. It was interesting to see that they have had an early breeding season too, they are about a week ahead of us even, and so there were quite a lot of guillemot jumplings on the sea (picture left). They are called jumplings because they jump from the land down to the sea when they are only three quarters grown, and have not fledged out of their downy feathers to their true flight feathers yet, and so are not able to fly. Now being a jumpling on the Farnes is not quite such a perilous thing as at St Abbs because they do not have the towering cliffs that we have, but it still pulls on the heart strings somewhat to see these wee birds taking to the open sea (albeit with their parents to escort them) at such a tender age.

Now segue to St Abbs today: a steely grey sea, dotted with white caps, rain being driven horizontal by a brisk wind and a pair of stalwart Rangers (yes, the same two as yesterday) trying to show a group of overseas students from the various Edinburgh universities the glories of St Abbs in June. We did manage to get the telescopes set up at the top of the cliffs, and hold them still enough to allow some of the braver members of the group to see the seabirds before the lenses of the scopes got completely drenched and they ended up getting a view more like the picture to the right. Oh well, you couldn't ever say that being a Ranger is boring!

Messing about in boats...

So, the forecast was good for getting the boat in the water today, the boat is only small so the sea has to be a veritable millpond, and that was how it was this morning. However, the tide also needs to be relatively high to make it easier to launch the boat from the shore (ie not slipping on seaweed covered rocks), but also makes it better for getting into a couple of the caves where shags nest. And today it was not high water until 15.40, so we took the boat onto the Mire Loch to have a test run, checking everything was working OK and letting Elaine get used to steering an outboard with a tiller (see picture). And the plan was to take the boat out onto the sea this afternoon to monitoring the seabirds in blind spots that we couldn't see from the cliffs. However, the wind had got up just enough to make it that little bit too choppy for our wee zodiac so we had to abort. We did have a consolation prize of seeing 9 puffins and a big group of gannets plunge diving in amongst the whitecaps at the launch site though. He hey, Monday looks like the next possible window in the weather, so fingers crossed.

Chicks all over!

I have been out surveying the seabirds all day and can proudly announce that we now have chicks under all our species except for our fulmars, which always breed much later than any of the others. Today I saw my first razorbill and kittiwake chicks, which are again about a week earlier than usual, and last week we had our first herring gull chicks. So if you want to come up and see the seabirds here at St Abbs, now is a great time, but don't leave it too long as the first guillemot chicks could be jumping from the cliffs in about a week, and I would guess that by two weeks time the vast majority of our guillemots will have gone. There will still be plenty of other seabirds about but when you remove 30,000 plus, it makes a big difference to the seabird experience!

Chewing things over..

Last week we had a rarity at St Abbs; not only did we manage to get all the people we needed together on the same day for a site visit, but we also got good weather so that we could explore the property (or should I say properties) in comfort! The reason for the gathering was to discuss future grazing management for the Trust's land at St Abb's Head and on the length of coastal slope that the Trust owns to the south east of Fast Castle that we call the Lumsdaine Strip. Both areas of land are within the wider St Abbs's Head to Fast Castle Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a designation which reflects the area's importance for wildlife, not least the grasslands.

Now, contrary to what many people believe, grasslands to not just manage themselves. Depending on what you want to manage them for, you may wish to exclude grazing, or graze them just at certain times of year, or use different types of grazers (because different animals eat different things and in different ways). So the object of this meeting was to discuss ways in which we might tweak the grazing management of these two parcels of land, as surveys have shown that we are mostly getting it right, but there are some areas where we might want to try a different tack.

The grazing management of both areas is tricky. In the picture at the top left you can see, behind the group of lunch munchers, the sort of slopes that we are talking about at Lumsdaine - not terribly horizontal, and also the land that we own is an island surrounded by land owned by others, over which we have no right of access. Then at the Head the underlying geology has produced a mosiac of small hillocks with thin soils (known locally as knowes) which where you find the flora of interest, surrounded by areas of thicker, more nutrient rich soils which promotes the growth of tall grasses which smothers any of the small herbs species. The photo on the right shows this quite nicely, the knowes have a flush of pink from the thrift and the areas with thicker soils show up bright green. But there is no way we can fence out each one of the knowes to exclude grazing on them but allow grazing in between, so we have to decide what is the best way of managing the flora rich areas.

Then there are additional issues such as plant species that are invading the grasslands, like bracken, gorse, thistles and nettles, and the best way to control them. Not to mention rabbits which impose a not inconsiderable grazing pressure (just four innocent looking bunnies can eat as much in a year as a sheep), and they breed like...well, rabbits, and their burrows cause a lot of damage. But in some areas the bare soil caused by their burrowing is a good thing for butterflies.

So all in all, quite a complicated business. But luckily we have considerable experience and expertise within the Trust that we can call on, and combining this with advice and support from Scottish Natural Heritage, and a good relationship with our tenant graziers we seem to be doing OK. Hopefully this meeting will help us put together a grazing management plan, including the way in which we will monitor whether we are getting it right or not, and this will not only guide our future management, but also help us apply for funding to help support this work.

Sounding things out...

Early May saw the launch of the St Abbs pARTicipate Project; pARTicipate being new initiative from the Trust's Education department, which seeks to explore and engage people with the Trust's conservation work, through the arts. At St Abbs the Trust is working together with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) and Scottish Borders Council’s Arts Development Team towards a new music composition. Composer, Howard Moody is being commissioned to write a piece that celebrates the significance of the coastal and marine nature reserves at St Abbs.

Enagagement of the local community is a fundemantally important part of the project and on 10th May P6 pupils from Coldingham and Eyemouth Primary Schools spent the morning in the classroom with Audio Artist, Pippa Murphy, learning how to make field recordings and then I went in to introduce them to the various seabirds we have at St Abbs. Then in the afternoon we all went up to St Abb's Head (picture top) to explore and capture the sounds of the seabirds and other environment sounds. The pupils will then create their own ‘Sonic Postcards’ of St Abbs and the sounds they have recorded will be encorporated into the new composition by Howard Moody. The composition will be performed as part of the SCO’s South of Scotland Tour in 2012.

The weather for the site visit was challenging as it was pretty windy, but we spent some time up at the Head recording the seabirds as best we could, and then sought the shelter of Starney Bay and recorded some of the sounds of the shore from sea level (picture below...recording the sound of scrunching pebbles). Pippa will be spending two days with the pupils next week working on their raw recordings, and I, for one, am rather excited to hear the end result of all their labours!

Later in the summer, it will be the turn of local visual artist, Sarah Riseborough, to enage the wider local community in the project. But more of that nearer the time...

Get set for the Splash In!

The St Abbs and Eyemouth Voluntary Marine Reserve (VMR) is holding its annual underwater photography competition, The Splash In, which this year will take place on the August Bank Holiday weekend of 27th and 28th August.

Now a well established event on any diver’s calendar, the St Abbs and Eyemouth VMR Splash In is in its 24th year and every year the competition attracts hundreds of pounds worth of prizes from our generous sponsors.

There are 45 places in the competition and to take part divers must register in advance by completing the entry form available on the VMR’s website www.marine-reserve.co.uk or from the VMR Ranger Georgia Conolly (gconolly@nts.org.uk) and returning it no later than 1st August. Alternatively registration will be available on the morning of 27th August at The Old School, St Abbs from 8am – 10am, although divers are encouraged to register in advance as the places will be allocated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. Registering for the competition in advance will speed up the check in process on the Saturday morning, giving competitors the maximum time possible to capture what they hope will be a prize-winning image.

The competition categories will be: Marine Life Portrait (close up photos of the Reserve’s inhabitants); Reserve Atmospheric (showing the VMR’s spectacular scenery at its best and these shots can include divers in the frame) and The John Goldie Most Humorous Shot (use your imagination!). Competitors will be spoilt for choice in terms of subject matter as the coastal waters off St Abbs and Eyemouth and teeming with wildlife. There are kelp forests; soft corals; wrecks; reefs and grey seals to photograph.

The entry fee for the competition is £20 which includes entry into the slideshow of all the images on the Sunday evening. Full details, competition rules and the advance registration form are available from the VMR website.

Clair Jubb's close up of a shanny won 2nd prize in the Marine Life Portrait category and best overall image in show in last year's competition.

Looking at St Abb's Head through rose coloured specs!

St Abb's Head is covered in a pink haze at the moment which is due to the amount of thrift that is in flower. And what is really lovely is that the sea of pink is not restricted to the cliffs, it extends a bit inland as well so you get the rather surreal experience of seeing a carpet of sea pinks stretching down to the Mire Loch (pictured above), which is freshwater! Also on the cliff tops you can see the other common maritime specialist, sea campion, as well as the splashes of yellow bird's-foot-trefoil, and a handful of early purple orchids. But the very special plant to look out for on the cliff tops is the somewhat diminutive purple milk vetch, which is just coming into flower now. It may be small, but its perfectly formed (see below) and is a nationally scarce plant and we have the best populations of it in Berwickshire.

Congratulations...It's a baby Shag.


I was very surprised today to observe the first Shag chicks on the reserve, poking out from under their parents' wings. Although they aren't the cutest of offspring, just grey furry lumps with a head, it was a delight to see the seabird breeding season getting under way. Hopefully these will be the first of many.

As part of my widlife monitoring duties, I observe the breeding activity of Shags (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) at four particular plots every 7-10 days or so. This is to monitor their reproductive success over the season, which helps us to judge the health of the population.

About half of the nests at one of my plots had chicks today, while the other three had none as of yet. These chicks are three days earlier than last year so more evidence of this year's early season.

New St Abbs and Eyemouth Dive Guide out now!

A new dive guide covering the coastal waters off St Abbs and Eyemouth has been produced by the St Abbs and Eyemouth Voluntary Marine Reserve.

Some divers may remember ‘The Grey Dive Guide’ which was first published in the 1980s by Carol Warman and the Berwickshire Divers club which at the time was considered to be an invaluable tool for exploring the marine reserve. ‘A Guide to Diving the St Abbs and Eyemouth Voluntary Marine Reserve’ captures the information contained within the Grey Dive Guide and updates it for modern usage. The guide is also illustrated with stunning photographs of local marine life and scenery which were donated by a number of talented underwater photographers.

The new dive guide is a 32 page A5 booklet printed in full colour throughout. It describes 18 dives within the marine reserve and has maps of all the locations. In addition the guide contains useful information about the local area including background information about the Voluntary Marine Reserve; a description of the habitats and marine life divers might expect to encounter in the coastal waters off St Abbs and Eyemouth; details on how divers can help protect marine life and get involved in the work of the Voluntary Marine Reserve and practical information such as what local diving services are on offer and useful websites to help you plan your trip.
The guide contains a large amount of information in a compact size: it will fit into most divers log books making it the ideal companion on your next visit to the Voluntary Marine Reserve, whether you are just visiting for the day or planning a longer trip.

The guide is on sale for £7 directly from the Marine Ranger or local establishments. To order your copy by post please send a cheque for £7 (+ £1.50 postage and packaging) made payable to ‘St Abbs and Eyemouth VMR’ to The Marine Ranger, Rangers Office, Northfield, St Abbs, TD14 5QF.

All ship shape and bristol fashion?

Wednesday is volunteer day, and we have a team of 4 regular volunteers who come out and help us out as often as they can. Today, however, only John could make it, so he and I went out and polished off some jobs that needed doing but didn't need a group of people to do them. Things like shoring up a waymarker post for the all ability path leading from the visitor centre to Starney Bay, and getting the reserve boat ready for action.

Now, as you can see from the picture of the left, our boat may is not huge, but it is just what we need here at St Abbs. It is small enough to strap onto the top of the truck and drive across the fields to Burnmouth Harbour, where we then have to lift it over a barbed wire fence and carry it down the beach to launch. And its big enough (just!) to fit two people in it, one driving the boat and the other counting the nesting seabirds in the blind spots that we cannot see from the top of the cliffs. All we need to do now is have a test run on the Mire Loch to make sure everything is how it should be, then we are ready to take it out on the sea and count the birds.

I think this picture could be a contender for a caption competition, and as a clue I can say that John could be heard mumbling something about scrubbing bottoms!

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!