It seemed like my 4th week may finally be the one in which the weather took a turn for the worst. The rain was probably long overdue, as incredibly Coll had gone almost the whole of October without it! During the dry period at the beginning of the week, it seemed a good plan to strategically apply copper grease to all threads, nuts and moveable joints on the new RSPB tractor, a spanking blue Landini that had arrived in the latter part of the previous week. Unfortunately, both Ben, David and I also had to spend time trying to figure out some issues with the tractor’s ‘two-way’ hydraulics, eventually traced to some broken switchgear inside the cab.
This week was also to be the first use of the flail since my arrival. We had a number of zones to be cut back, essentially early cover areas for nesting Corncrake. The vegetation in these areas was becoming so matted that they’d ultimately be unproductive. When flailed, they’d be ripe for cultivation moving into Spring. Upon attachment to the Honda quad bike we merrily filled the flails V-twin with fuel and towed it to a compartment almost adjacent to the RSPB building. With the field sloping in all manner of directions, huge tussocks of thickly matted grass and an assortment of buried granite, it wasn’t the easiest of fields to learn the flail! David duly directed as I carefully manoeuvred the quad, cutting at almost the flails highest setting. Eventually we got through some of the thicker clumps and were able to drop the flail to a lower setting, remembering to remove cut vegetation from the flail itself, and roller, in order to avoid extreme ‘smoking!’ With the flail being belt driven from the engine, any material build up quickly caused issues.
I also had the opportunity to flail the early cover area behind the windbreak that we’d set up back at the end of week two. This area was practically a dream compared to the last, relatively flat, devoid of rock (mainly) and all round easy-going. The flail could be dropped to a low setting within no time and I stormed through the compartment, avoiding the patches that Ben had previously cultivated.
The weather eventually turned mid week, so David and I decided to undergo an essential task that we could complete inside the cover of the barn. This was the renewal of the trailer bed, it having rotted through over a number of years. It took some time to cut out the old base (a solid sheet of marine ply) as the majority of the bolts had rusted and were hard to get any purchase on. After taking a more brutal approach to removal we eventually opted to angle grind the remaining fastenings. With the bed removed we measured up a new base and used a circular saw to cut. Once marked out we drilled all required holes and I slapped on a first coat of wood protective paint treatment.
With the treatment drying and in between coats, I took the Polaris ATV through the dunes to Hogh Bay in order to enact a solo beach clean. The majority of all litter had piled up at either end of stunning Hogh and I wandered around in the rain collecting whatever I could find, mainly plastic bottles, bits of old rope and crab pots. The southern end of the bay was relatively clean but I found piles of rubbish at the northern end…even including a fridge! A good effort all told, ending up with an ATV load bed piled high!
With just over a week until Bonfire Night, one day was devoted to the collection of firewood for the annual Coll Bonfire. Through the joint efforts of the RSPB and the Coll Project Trust, we used the tractor and trailer and a group of Project Trust volunteers to collect donated wood from around the island. It rained the entire time and took a while to get the tractor around Coll’s main road, but we ended up with three trailer loads in total, an extremely good haul.
The final task for the week was my very first Coll Goose count. With small flocks of Greenland White-Fronts turning up regularly and a good number of Barnacle Geese, it seemed the perfect time. This was also in combination with a break from the rain. David and I used the Land Rover to trace a route around the island, making sure to observe the arable grazing pastures where Geese would be most prominent. Greylags were scattered almost everywhere, no substantial flocks as such, but many smallish groups, totalling 405. White-Front numbers were still relatively low at this time of year but we came across the odd few groups, 95 in all, with around 19% measured as juveniles. This was due to the lack of black striping on the belly and in some cases, very little white around the base of the bill. By far and away the most numerous were a substantial flock of Barnacle Geese, counted at 1157. Considering the size of the island, it surprisingly took almost the entire day to trace the route! We were also surprised to see a late November Chiffchaff, a ringed bird. Stonechat and Meadow Pipit were prominent and at Cliad we witnessed a number of Goldcrest and a good few Reed Bunting. The most unusual site witnessed was a Buzzard predating a Hooded Crow, scavenger eats scavenger. It was attempting to drag the crow uphill, with some difficulty.
I used the little bit of time at the end of the week to apply the final protective coat on the trailer bed and David and I were then able to fit the marine ply in readiness for many years of impending service. With that, half of my voluntary stint at RSPB Coll was complete; regrettably the time was just flying by.
James Duncan