Me and Emma at the Seabird Station. By Chloë I’m Chloë a new volunteer assistant warden and I am extremely excited to be on Lundy island!
I have a varied background in conservation, ranging from researching sharks and manta rays in the Seychelles and South Africa and turtle and coral conservation in Malaysia, to working on a regenerative farming/renaturing project in the Sussex and volunteering with the South Downs National Park.
This is my first time on Lundy and since arriving last Tuesday I can see what an amazing place it is! In my first week I have seen Puffins for the first time, enjoyed speaking with visitors at the seabird stations, done butterfly and bee transects, seen a Golden oriole, and completed my first seal disturbance survey. On my days off I’ve started to explore all the exciting things the island has to offer, and I have been for some refreshing swims and had an incredible time snorkelling with Emma, Maddie and Lucile. We saw a few Spider Crabs, shoals of Sand Eels, Goldshinny wrasse and lots of thriving marine flora.
Last night the weather was stormy with wind gusting 45mph, good weather for Manx Shearwaters. So while most people were cosy inside, we (the conservation team) headed out to ring some Manxies! For a few of us it was our first time out and it was such an amazing experience! Hearing their haunting calls over the howling wind was very surreal.
Snakelocks Anemone Devil Kitchen by Chloë.
Solar Powered Sea Slug in Devils Kitchen by Chloë.
Today Jessie and I had a wonderful time rockpooling down at Devils Kitchen on an outgoing tide. We found lots of pretty Beadlet, Snakelocks and Strawberry anemones as well as some Gobies, a Montagues Crab and tonnes of beautiful Seaweed species. We also found a Four lined polycera, a Solar powered sea slug and a placida dendritica!