• A big thankyou

    Kieren

     

    So after 5 months I said goodbye to the last of this years residential volunteers today. Can I just take this chance to say a big thank you to all who volunteered this summer. Your help has been invaluable and much appreciated. Without you the island would be a much poorer place and I sincerely hope all visited enjoyed their experience on the island.  
    Too many good memories and volunteers to list them all but I shall…

  • Summer becomes Autumn

    Kieren
    It’s been a little while since I “blogged” about events on the island. Last week was dominated by the Havergate adventure, the annual four day visitor event organised by the Woodbridge local group. Its a long four days for all involved but a big thanks must go to the volunteers who guided people around the island, all visitors seemed to have a good time. Although one day was cancelled due to inclement weather and those…

  • An emotional day!?

    Kieren
    Today was an emotional day, at least for me. The 2nd Tern chick from the colony on Belpers fledged. I even watched it fly, unbeknownst to it on even them as I should refer to them from the safety of the hide.
    It didn’t go far it merely flew up and bathed itself in the saline water in the lagoon, maybe practised a few exploratory dives for fish and then settled back on the island it was born and waited for mother and…

  • The adventure of Havergate:

    Kieren
    As the year rolls on thoughts begin to turn from breeding birds to passage birds. However, If I was asked to use just one word to sum up the breeding season, I’d say long.
    The gulls were on eggs by Mid March with the first chicks hatching in mid April. Then we had the encouraging signs of 23 pairs of nesting Avocets by Early June, with the subsequent failure being a blow. Common gulls finally swung into action…

  • The continuing adventures of the Tern chicks

    Kieren
    The Tern chicks are still alive. In fact more than just alive, they appear to be doing really well but I won’t use the word thriving. Every day I go out to the island, I presume the worse, an abandoned colony, parents absent and activity all but over.  However, this has so far (touch wood) not been the case. Watching the colony for just five minutes will normally bring a sighting of a chick and once you get your…

  • Some corrections and more news

    Kieren
    First, I’m going to start with a correction from the last blog. The number of barn Owl fledglings is in fact three. This was only found out last Sunday when the Landgard ringing group came onto the island to do their annual ringing of the large gull chicks and as aside ring the Barn owl chicks. All can fly and all are in very good shape, weighting between 325 and 375 grams.
    I’m not sure if anyone here as had the…

  • Barn Owls and Common Gulls

    Kieren
    Earlier in the season we had the disappointment of the Avocets being predated. However, this week’s blog entry should go some way to alleviating this sense of disappointment. This week I get the rare pleasure of reporting, not just one bit of good news but two bits of positive news.
    Those who have visited or even volunteered on Havergate will be familiar with the Barn Owls that nest in the Tractor shed. For the…

  • Some sad news

    Kieren

     

    I’ll keep this brief but sad news..... The Flamingo has departed the islands. No more will anyone look across Main lagoon and be cheered by sight of a large pink bird, normally with his head in the water, feeding away, no more will he take off in flight and look like a long thin pink pencil with wings. Perhaps the urge to find his own was to strong or perhaps he realised that the world was to replete with possibilties…

  • A quick update

    Kieren
    The breeding season continues a pace on the island. However, firstly I must break some bad news. In my last blog piece I reported that the island was playing host to 23 Avocets the highest breeding number in some time, however between the dates 14th to the 16th of July all the nests where predated. One particular Herring gull was believed to be the cause of the predation, Avocets can be quite adept at chasing away predators…

  • Summer has arrived

    Kieren
    What an odd few days on Havergate but more of that later.
    Summer has definitely arrived on the island. With it though, something exciting has happened. Those who are familiar with Havergate will know that recently the population of Avocets have been going through what looked like a terminal decline. In fact, with only four pairs nesting last year, the unspoken fear was that 2010 would mark the end of breeding Avocets…

  • Common gulls on Havergate

    Kieren
    Finally, just after I was about to give up on them, the Common gulls have swung into action. Laying there eggs in some fabulous locations. I was expecting them to lay out in the open, in a big dense colony, like their close cousin the Tern. However, they’ve completely taken me by surprise by nesting hunkered down into the gorse.
    The common gulls re – established themselves in 2005, with four pairs in 2005 before…

  • A visit from Auntie

    Kieren
    On Wednesday the island got a visit from Auntie....
    The bbc’s “inside out” team came out to do a piece on the Hares of Havergate. As with most visitors to the island, they were astonished at the tameness of the Hares. This makes Havergate an ideal place to film shots of Hares feeding, playing and of course as the Hares do on here most of the time relaxing and lounging in the sun.
    Courtesy of Richard…

  • Volunteers, Spoonbills and just a few Hobbies.

    Kieren

    Saturday marked the end of last weeks residential volunteers stay on the island. Thanks must go to David and John two volunteers who have being coming out to Havergate and helping in the residential volunteers scheme for sixteen and five years respectively. There where a great help to the island, painting and decorating and completing the important task of roping off the Common gull colony. This week I am joined by Julia…

  • Three days and Three nights on Havergate

    Kieren
    So, after waving good bye to the first residential volunteers last week, I decided to take myself out and spend three days and nights alone on Havergate Island.
    This is useful in terms of thinking about what needs to be done on the island not only by myself but also by the incredibly helpful volunteers we get on site. Whilst it may sound like a romantic concept living alone on an island and don’t get me wrong it really…

  • Counting Hares on Havergate

    Kieren
     
    After the success of our first dedicated Hare weekend back in mid April, it was decided that the time had come to count our Hares on Havergate. The Hares have been in good form recently boxing, chasing and looking quite stunning in the bright early morning sunshine and for us on Havergate this count would have particular importance as we would get out first glimpse as to how badly the cold winter had affected them. 
    …

  • What a weekend!

    Aaron
    Last weekend on Havergate was the first dedicated hare watching event - thanks to the fine weather and obliging hares we had a fantastic time!
    The event was fully booked a week before with forty people per day on the island to get up close and personal with our hares. We are very fortunate that the hares are very happy with getting close to visitors as they have been living in isolation for well over a hundred years. This…

  • LIFE on Havergate.

    Aaron

     

    April 1st heralds the start of a four year European grant in association with the National Trust on Orford Ness. The LIFE+ grant will allow us to undertake much needed works on the island including replacing all of the tidal sluices which were hand made by the previous site manager John Partridge. I have many photos in the office of John and his team of volunteers holding back the sea with pallets and sheets of…