Well I think it’s fair to say autumn has hit over here in the mid-Atlantic. Flicking back through my photos since I last wrote, the overriding impression is wet, windy, grey and a white washed look to the edge of the islet… bonuses to this has meant some epic powerful, white washed waves plus spray, a stunning double/triple rainbow and moody skies!

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Amongst this autumnal weather we managed to briefly get on and then ‘evacuated’ off the islet to avoid Hurricane Lorenzo. The hurricane hit Graciosa in the early hours of the morning and can be summarised as very, very windy… thankfully we were at the edge of the hurricane and so the worst damage was loosing some plastic roofing.

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We have now been back on the islet for over two weeks and settled back into some sort of routine, although still very much governed by the wind and the rain. This has included full nest checks and natural nest checks (grubbing) every few days, from which we are slowly gathering information on who’s paring with whom and seeing eggs being laid too! While avoiding the inclement weather outside, we can now also relax in comfort on the air bed sofa – the latest (and best ever) fieldwork buy!!!

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In the last week we have had a break from the mizzle, rain, winds and waves!!!

The amount of joy in seeing the sun, feeling the heat of the sun and smelling the almost herby, warming damp earth is indescribable.

So with this good weather it has meant we can get out and start a set of half night, mist-netting nights (ringing-approved catching of birds). It has been great seeing a mix of new and retrap stormies 🙂 amongst a very few Cory’s shearwaters who are still feeding chicks and finally catching a little shearwater.

The last few nights have been stunning! Clear and calm with the milky-way arching over the islet, alongside the cacophony of the winter stormies, little shearwaters and the occasional Cory’s shearwater.

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After over two weeks of being surrounded by just two other people, we’ve welcomed the park team to the islet several times this week. It’s always great to catch up with the team, hear news, and be brought much needed provisions :). But we’ve all commented since and no words can truly explain the strange shift of visitors to no visitors again… it becomes natural so quickly and then they’re missed when they’ve left…

But we’re back to three and looking forward to others joining in the near future :).

So for now, I will leave you with one final picture… the first chick of the winter season!!! It’s so so cute and fluffy!!!!

Until next time,

Hannah 🙂