Here's a fresh perspective on Inner Hebridean life - in all its soggy glory - from Liz, our colleague from The Lodge. Many thanks to her for this, and for all her hard work and enthusiasm over the past month.
Sabbatical Blog – Islay and Oronsay: Liz Edwards June 2017
As an RSPB employee, I am able to take a ‘sabbatical’ to undertake conservation work outside the remit of my current role in recognition of a number of years of service. I was delighted therefore when my enquiry in December last year to James, Senior Site Manager for Islay Reserves, to spend 4 weeks working there was met with a positive and enthusiastic response. He also suggested including a stay on the RSPB farm on Oronsay, an island only accessible in a vehicle or on foot at low tide, which added even more excitement!
So, I set off in eager anticipation at the end of May, knowing that this was going to be a major departure from my job as a Business Analyst at RSPB HQ in Sandy, Bedfordshire. Nothing could have prepared me for the breathtaking beauty of the Inner Hebridean Islands, each of the RSPB reserves, Loch Gruinart and The Oa on Islay and Oronsay Farm, are very different and all equally spectacular in their own way. What a privilege then to be working outside amongst this amazing scenery undertaking a range of jobs. (The fact that I had unknowingly chosen the week of the annual Islay Whisky Festival to start my sabbatical added an unexpected twist!)
Loch Gruinart from Creag Mhor
Beach at Poll Gorm, between Oronsay and Colonsay
Sunset over Loch Gruinart
Sadly the weather has not been as spectacular as the views! While May had been an endless succession of dry sunny days, June was quite the opposite and nobody says they can remember quite so much rain at this time of year. Butterfly and bumblebee transects which both need good weather have been hard to fit in and the moth traps have hardly gone out, and all this while the rest of the UK has been basking in a heatwave!
Despite the inclement conditions, wardens Mark, Phill and Morgan have still found plenty for me to do and armed with waterproofs and sturdy wellies I set about the tasks I was allocated with great enthusiasm! June is a very busy time on reserves, particularly where livestock farming is involved, with birds nesting, chicks hatching and fledging, sheep and cattle producing their offspring and vegetation growing at a rate of knots, blocking visitor trails.
Some of the more soggy highlights of my time here must include laying a gravel path at The Oa in the pouring rain (thanks Phill!!) –
and surveying ditches in the peat bog on Gruinart prior to blocking work commencing (thanks Mark!!) –
With so many unforgettable experiences it is hard to single out just a few but observing sea bird ringing, seeing hen harrier food passes both at Loch Gruinart and at The Oa, encountering an adder on the moors, seeing a corncrake, spotting 23 marsh fritillary butterflies on a transect, going out on a rib to see Arctic terns off the Oronsay coast, wader surveys in wild flower meadows, the identification of a Saxon moth at The Oa (the first ever recorded on Islay) and seeing a calf only hours old taking its early faltering steps in the field all have to rank among the highlights. Even my departure from Oronsay was an exciting experience, it being via a Canadian canoe which Andy, the Site Manager, and I paddled across the strand to Colonsay in a torrential downpour owing to the times of the tides! My last task was to assist with a guided walk at The Oa which resulted in the recruitment of a membership – a great way to end!
Guillemots on Colonsay
Marsh fritillary butterfly on Oronsay
Wildflowers on Oronsay
Lesser butterfly orchid on Oronsay
Guided walk at The Oa
Not all activities have been that glamorous – changing the wheels on the trailer at The Oa ......
and helping to change the oil filter on the Kubota farm vehicle on Oronsay ......
to name but two!
As my sabbatical nears its conclusion, it is with some considerable regret that I have to leave these magical places and return to the reality of my desk job and I cannot thank the reserves staff enough for their help and support throughout. The immense value of the experience cannot be under estimated – I hope I have been a help as an extra pair of hands when staff are so stretched, but without doubt their contribution to my knowledge and understanding of the way that a reserve functions at grass roots level will be invaluable to my job back at HQ. From the trials and tribulations of coping with whatever the weather brings and the vagaries of breeding bird behaviour to the lack of a reliable internet connection in remote places, it all adds up to a challenging place to try and ‘give nature a home’. But the compensations of being so close to nature and being able to see what a positive difference wildlife friendly farming can make, for me at least, has made it one of the most amazing and unforgettable experiences of my lifetime.
Highland cow at The Oa