For the rest of this week I'll post updates from several projects on UK Overseas Territories. First up are the Northern rockhoppers that were affected by the oil spill last year (and you'll hear about their southern cousins tomorrow).
When the bulk carrier MS Oliva ran aground on 16 March last year on Nightingale Island (part of the Tristan da Cunha group), a huge effort to rescue the penguins was launched. With the group of islands being home to over 65% of the global population of endangered northern rockhopper penguins, residents of Tristan da Cunha (Tristanians) and the Tristan Conservation Department, followed by staff from the RSPB and Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), came together and moved quickly to collect and clean up the oiled birds and prevent many more from coming into contact with the oil.
Earlier this year, the species was surveyed and estimations showed approximately 154,000 penguins bred on Gough, Inaccessible and Nightingale islands in 2011. Last month the final moulting penguins left until their return later in 2012 for a new breeding season - we now just have to wait to see whether or not there are any long-term effects from the oil spill.
Moulting rockhoppers - not quite looking their best! (Katrine Herian)
Despite hundreds of thousands being counted, estimates in the 1950s suggest there were ‘millions’ of birds, with two million pairs on Gough alone. The species remains globally threatened and the causes of the historic decline remain unknown, so any additional threats may have a huge impact. As well as oil pollution, kills by the giant petrel have been happening more frequently over the years, and this will need to be watched closely during the next breeding season.
Hapless victim of giant petrel (Trevor Glass)
Katrine Herian works for the RSPB on the island, and was involved in the clean-up mission last year. She commented: “Something really needs to be said about the huge Tristanian efforts in response to this disaster - without them, this could have been a very different story. While the true impact of the spill won’t be known for some time yet, we can at least know that everything that could be done was done.”
We are all mightily relieved that the impact was not worse!
More later in the year as the birds start coming back.
Thanks - and as Katrine says, the Tristanians were quick of the mark in responding, and all-hands-on-deck - a remarkable testament to what can be done when a community mobilises in this way.
So well done by Katrine and all the others involved in preventing an even worse disater. Brilliant work by the RSPB and the other organisations. All this work is so important and yet goes so under reported or not at all in the general media. At least it is much appreciated by "yours truly"!