Sunday 22nd November 2020

new chicks

​Hello friends and family
The gull chicks have hatched, and we caught 3 stoats in one of the traps placed beside the gull nests to catch predators. We are well pleased with that!

look mum I am growing fast!

​Our last penguin eggs have hatched, and we are treating the last of the tiny chicks. They are so vulnerable that every day, we save the life of at least one of them. It might be a bone jammed in their throat, a membrane that has dried and turned leathery or a chick that has crawled out of the nest in the heat and cannot get back in. The responsibility can be quite daunting. The nests with inexperienced parents are the most likely to be the site of trouble. As the chicks grow, they become more robust and can handle life better so our stress is reduced.

Warm days mean the chicks can spread out

​On Thursday we began our next phase of monitoring – weighing the chicks once a week to make sure that they are all progressing well. That was how we discovered that one chick had set out on an adventure way too soon. It had come out of its nest and Lindsey found it on the beach, 30 m below, still alive! Needless to say, we have now added a new barrier to stop it happening again.

The trees smell much sweeter than the penguins

It was still doing fine yesterday thank goodness. Currently we have 60 chicks. Some are still very new and tiny, some have Diphtheria, and we are treating them, but most are past the worst risk of peri-natal death. Our goal is to save them all. We also have 4 young females in care. One had Malaria, one has a fungal throat and the other 2 are under weight. Its what we do!
Have a great week!
Rosalie