My New Pet

soon (well, next Spring) to look like this:

it's a Poplar Hawk Moth, and will have a wing-span of 9cm. That's quite scary, actually!

Stormies online

I have set up a new blog specifically for stormies and their followers, so as not to clog up the behaviour group blog with Earthwatch chatter. However, if you want to take a peep at whats been happening, follow the linK to stormies online!

http://stormies-online.blogspot.com/

Hope the weather is better in Cardiff than here -it rained so hard last night that my playback equipment blew up!

Rob

Warning -
Do not believe anything this man tells you about storm petrels

In a far corner of Israel...

...these little guys were lurking!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5036618.stm

Eagle Eye!

More wildlife live-feeds (no pun intended!) - http://www.infotecbusinesssystems.com/wildlife/

I confess I'm not sure what type of eagle it is. Hey, I'm a fishologist!

Hope all's well in Portugal, and elsewhere of course.

The Behaviour Group trip to Flatholm

The 2006 trip to Flatholm island took place on 7th May. The sky was blue, and the sea -fortunately- was flat as a slightly choppy mill-pond.

Captain Renata Medeiros was at the wheel of the boat, ably assisted by Rear Admiral David Lloyd.

Also in attendance were landlubbers Alex & Chris, Carsten, Nicola & David, Claire, Mike B & Erin, Ruben and Rob.

Old salts Viola & Dave were on the boat with us, returning to the island with fresh supplies and equipment.

Lunch on the cliff top.


The welcome committee


Hands up if you like gulls!


Hands up if you don't want a peck on the head!


The eggs were delicious -um, I mean closely studied.


A ferocious slow worm, with handler.


Breaking seagull-attack news
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/5024818.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/5016190.stm

Storm petrel catching in Portugal

Hello from sunny Portugal -although as we are mainly out at night we haven't seen much of the sun so far! Its been a bit cool at night -so Alex has very sensibly chosen to wear all the clothes in her wardrobe, simultaneously (see photographic evidence to the left). Also in the photo is Emma Rosenfeld -PTY projects in full swing.

Heres a photo of Renata -last seen diving into the surf with a sweep net!

The first few stormies are successfully in the bag, but we are still waiting for the main arrival of birds.

Meanwhile, we are having fun on the cliffs and looking forward with trepidation (given the high seas this morning) to a boat trip to try to catch stormies at sea.

The photo below shows our current Earthwatch team, including Rob, Alex, Renata & Emma. The others are various Portuguese biologists, including my new MSc student (Sara Roda), Renata's Portuguese PhD supervisor (Jaime Ramos) and 3 volunteers from Hong Kong, South Africa and Egypt. Here is Walla -our Egyptian volunteer, getting to know a stormie.

Stuck for birthday present ideas? Why not sponsor a storm petrel for someone -you know it makes sense!!! http://www.justgiving.com/sponsor_a_stormie

Raccoon Cam

If you're at a loss for something to do (impossible to believe, I know!), then have a look at http://www.raccooncam.com/ - some very bold squirrels, raccoons and birdies on a real-time stream (it's refreshed every few seconds). There's a squirrel tucking in to breakfast as we speak!