Visitors trying to spot wildlife from Paddy’s hide yesterday were probably a bit surprised when they saw people instead of birds on the tern island. It was the first time this year that we worked there, which means it was the first time for me to get onto it. We started to remove the old material, full of bird droppings and weed seeds, and put new cockle shell on. Since none of us can fly, we had to get across in a boat. Since tools and cockle shell can’t fly either, they had to go across the water in the boat as well. But first, we had to get the boat itself and a rope to the island for the first time. The wind didn’t make it easy, pushed us towards the hide and made the short journey last longer than expected (we still did a good job, Ian). Eventually, we landed on the island, ferried the remaining volunteers and tools across and started to remove the cumulated material.
Ian managed to stay dry this time
The island is bigger than it looks from the hide. There is a lot of material that needs to be removed. And finally, the area that has to be covered in new cockle shell. We had to split up the group and left a few volunteers on the mainland who filled the boat with cockle shell, again and again, and ferried them across the water to the island. There is a lot of work to do. What I want to say is: visitors might see volunteers on the tern island again very soon.
Anni