Our man (Andy Schofield) writes:
Milky Way as seen from Pitcairn. (photo: Rhiannon Adam.)
It is not only the bonanza of rare and wonderful wildlife that can be seen on the Pitcairn Island group as well as in and above the neon blue Pacific Ocean that surrounds them that captivated me but there was one other thing that really stood out for me and made me just stand there gazing in amazement. This was the unbelievable night skies!
If there was a full moon you wouldn’t even need your head torch to walk around, it would almost be like “daylight” in monochrome, you could read, find your way home without a torch and even still watch birds, especially Frigate birds that would still patrol the skies above the island if it was bright enough, never entering your mind it was nearly midnight or beyond.
On the other hand, if there was no moon, you literally couldn’t see your nose or the cliché “hand in front of your face” through the almost claustrophobic, inky blackness. It was like being locked in a cupboard and having to literally feel your way around. This enabled me to see some of the most spectacular displays of stars I have ever seen anywhere in the world!
If this wasn’t enough you could get an even more incredible view of the night sky through binoculars and if you used your telescope it was mind blowing at the myriad of coloured lights in the sky.
You would be forgiven for thinking that the picture opposite was at odds with the rest of the writing within this blog and thinking it was a nice “sunrise” with dawn breaking over the Pacific. But if you look closely amongst the clouds you can see hundreds of stars! I had never seen a “moonrise” just before midnight that would light up the world as though the day was about to start. Even the colours of oranges and pinks were at complete odds with your senses, having to remind yourself “it is the middle of the night”.
A spectacular “Moonrise” over the South Pacific looking more like a familiar sunrise.(R.Adam)
Birds would be singing, calling and flying all around excitedly, almost like they had been given a bonus “day” to catch more fish. Tuna schools could be watched offshore decimating balls of flying fish, launching themselves out of the water like torpedo's, flying fish in silvers and blues scattering in every direction as they glinted in the moons light. It was almost like watching fireworks explode. Coconut crabs could be watched walking through the undergrowth, I’d only seen odd ones around in the daylight before this unique opportunity gave the chance to see how many you would unknowingly “pass by” on a dark night, they were everywhere!
Whilst on Pitcairn I was also lucky enough to visit another Island within the group and spend some time on Henderson Island, a fantastic raised coral atoll, full of spectacular birds but that’s a blog for another day!
My beach front accommodation, bathed in moonlight below petrel filled skies on Henderson Island. (R.Adam)
We've been working with the UK's amazing Overseas Territories for almost 20 years, but are still only scratching the surface of understanding their wonderful wildlife. One of the most remote and little known Territory environments is found in the Pitcairn Islands, the last remaining British Territory in the Pacific. Home to the extremely friendly descendants of the Mutiny on the Bounty, the Territory is made up of one inhabited island (Pitcairn) and three uninhabited ones.
We have a longstanding programme underway to restore one of these off-islands (Henderson Island World Heritage Site), but were conscious that the environment of Pitcairn itself is in many ways less studied than that of its uninhabited neighbours. Staff members have spent ten days on Pitcairn in consultation with the local community in 2010 and 2012, but as far as we are aware almost no general terrestrial conservationists have spent more than a week or two on the island. No one therefore really has any idea how big or threatened the population of the unique local bird, the Pitcairn reed-warbler, is, several of the island's unique plant species may be down to just a few individuals, and what invertebrate species exist on this fertile volcanic pinnacle is an almost untouched world still awaiting exploration and discovery.
We've therefore sent our new Overseas Territories Officer, Andy Schofield, to Pitcairn for three months to work alongside the Pitcairners and try to answer some of these questions. We're very excited to see what he may find!