It’s true that you can visit Blowing Rocks Preserve any time. But a special opportunity awaits you during the January 2011 Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival. On January 30, 2011, 26 lucky people will take a bus from Brevard Community College to Blowing Rocks Preserve for an all-day guided adventure to Blowing Rocks and [...]
Birds That Could Not Hide From Me
This year most of my field trips were in watery habitats, so the birds I saw tended to fall in that category. As a result, I saw fewer songbirds this year. Here’s the list of birds I saw during the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival (with help from more experienced birders): Mottled Duck Blue-winged [...]
Help Your Neighbors, Help Yourself
When one of my web site advertisers casually mentioned that they had some “health issues” in 2010, I quietly hoped that it was not serious, and true to my McRee nature, I did not pry. Claire Copeland is a fabulous photographer and Jeff is a very astute businessman, a real go-getter. I suspect that neither [...]
Anna Maria Island Beach Condo in Bradenton Beach
I get quite a lot of email from families planning a beach vacation. Many have never heard of Anna Maria Island, so I make it a point to give them a few pointers on the pros and cons of staying on different parts of the island. Making specific recommendations as to properties is difficult. But [...]
Shelling at Blind Pass – Captiva Island, Florida
Finding the best shells involves timing. You have to pay attention to the weather and the tides. Sometimes you have to drop everything and go shelling. You snooze, you lose. But even being a shelling loser isn’t that bad. There are always consolation prizes waiting for you at the beach. Strong cold fronts often bring [...]
Classes and Field Trips I’m Taking at the Space Coast Birding Festival
I thought I’d share some of the classes and field trips I’ve signed up for during the January 2011 Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival. Wildflowers, Plants, & Other Things – there’s more to the Festival than birds, so I thought I’d take advantage of the opportunity to learn about plants and other wildlife by [...]
Nature Bloggers Wanted: Meet for Lunch and Blog Talk at the Space Coast Birding Festival
Space Coast Birding Festival Website What: The Noon Blog. Nature blogger’s lunch, learning and networking. When: Thursday, January 27, 2011. Noon till 1:30 p.m. Where: Brevard Community College, Titusville, Florida Cost: Lunch and discussion are FREE, but you do have to register for the Festival ($10 fee). If you are a nature or birding blogger [...]
Dead Birds Falling from the Sky Becomes Top News Story
Most people don’t pay much attention to birds, probably because people don’t look up very often. We generally don’t have any idea how many birds there are around us at any given time. A big flock of crows might catch our attention, and the classic V-shape of geese in the autumn sky is always worth [...]
Diving Savusavu Fiji
The reef around the Fijian island of Vanua Levu provides a once in a lifetime experience. Daku Resort at Savusavu has recently teamed up with L'Aventure Jean-Michel Cousteau to offer unforgettable diving at affordable prices.
Ninth Edition of Moon Fiji
Avalon Travel Publishing has just released the 9th edition of Moon Fiji, the original travel guide to the Fiji Islands.
How to See Fiji
Whether you have a few weeks or only a few days to see Fiji, this exciting South Pacific destination has something for everyone.
Magnificent Micronesia
I’ve just added a Micronesia Travel Guide to this website. Micronesia now joins 15 other travel destinations profiled on SouthPacific.org.
One Million Pages Viewed
Three years ago I began posting the full texts of earlier editions of my guidebooks on Google Books. Eleven editions of my South Pacific travel guides are now online with over one million page views since 2008.
Busycorner Ecotourism Tours
John Wasko of Pago Pago has launched a blog called Busycorner to showcase ecotourism in American Samoa. The podcasts are beautifully researched, scripted, and produced.
Where to Go in French Polynesia
French Polynesia’s six leading travel destinations are outlined in this comprehensive survey. Find out where to go on Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, Rangiroa, and Nuku Hiva.
Huahine: Island of The Lost Canoe
Huahine: Island of the Lost Canoe by Rick Carroll is a vivid true-life South Seas mystery story. The book unearths (in words and images) one of the last relic voyaging canoes to help prove the Polynesian dispersal theory.
Glimpses of French Polynesia
French Polynesia is an exciting travel destination with an inexhaustible supply of water-related activities. It’s almost paradise.
Against the odds
Fighting fit - a Seal pup on Brownsman (David Andrews)
Skinny but alive - one of three Seal pups in HollandFarne Press release:
Seal pups makes incredible journey and survive
Three young grey seal pups born on the National Trust’s Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast have been discovered hundreds of miles away on a Dutch beach. The first of the ‘Farne Island three’ was found on the 13 December 2010 and was less than three weeks old when it made the 350 mile journey. After being found by a member of the public it was taken to a seal rescue centre in Holland.
Pups two and three were found on the 6 and 7 January 2011 and were taken to the same centre. All of the seal pups are recovering well and will be released back into the wild once they have put on enough weight; and they could potentially return home to the Farne Islands or another UK colony.
David Steel, National Trust Head Warden for the Farne Islands, said: “This is a remarkable tale of determination and survival in the turbulent waters of the North Sea. For three young grey seal pups to make it through such an ordeal is amazing.” Late November and early December saw easterly winds and stormy seas around the Farne Islands which would have played a part in sweeping the seal pups far out into the sea.
More than 1300 pups are born each year on the Farne Islands. Although grey seal pups can swim at an early age they don’t normally leave the breeding colony until they have weaned and moulted their white coats.
The colours are rotated during every colony count; two of the seals had blue dye putting their birth around 30 November, and the third pup had yellow dye, putting its birth date at around mid November. Home to one of the largest grey seal colonies in England the Islands are also famous for its hundred thousand seabirds including puffins. In 2008 otter prints were discovered on Brownsman Island after the mammal braved the swirls and tides of the area around the Farne Islands.
David Steel added: “The two pups with the blue dye would have still been dependent on their parents and the third pup would have only just gained its independence when they began their mammoth journey. Young pups have been discovered along the Northumberland coastline but this a real rarity.”
Tagging and survey work on grey seals has been taking place on the Farne Islands since the early 1950s – the longest running study of grey seals in the world – and the place where seal tagging was pioneered. The survival rate of grey seals in the stormy sea around the Islands is low with more than 45 per cent of pups not surviving the winter months.
January visit
Inner Farne Pele Tower standing strong 
Baron and bleak - Inner Farne mid-January
Winter victim - Oystercatcher (ringed!) found dead on Inner FarneSaturday 22nd January comments:
The late January period brought a rest bite in the weather (and more importantly the sea state) allowing access to the islands. It was the first visit of 2011 and I suspect not the last but it was good to catch up with them, just to check for any storm damage and to see the general shape of the place. The islands can look very desolate at this time of year, with no breeding birds and a lack of any serious vegetation although it wasn’t as quiet as expected…
Good numbers of Guillemots were loafing about the waters with ‘several thousand’ on the cliff ledges of Staple Island. Its typical behaviour at this time of year as birds will come and go with fine weather during January-March but where still some way off the breeding season. As well as the Guillemots, Fulmars were present in reasonable numbers whilst Shag’s were already showing off their summer plumage crests. However it’s still early days and despite the flurry of activity, the islands remained quiet apart from the odd over-wintering Wren. On a sad note – I discovered a dead Oystercatcher on Inner Farne, a victim of the winter although the bird was bearing a ring so should bring some interesting data.
The only birds of real note were the wintering wildfowl on Knoxes Reef with a pair of Gadwall (a scarce visitor to the islands) with over 150 Mallards (this pair have been here since early November last year). Alongside this 61 Wigeon, 18 Teal and 12 Goldeneye which made up the reasonable haul of ducks.
I’ll hopefully return in the forthcoming weeks and will keep you posted.
On the up!
Fat and content - a second coat pup (Graeme Duncan)
Mother and pup (David Andrews)
Snow white (David Andrews)
Only three weeks old... (David Andrews)
Home sweet home, from the cottage window (David Andrews)The dust has settled, the seals have been counted and its all over foe another year. The Farne grey Seals population experienced a good autumn (for numbers born) but I suspect once all the numbers are crunched, we will (as expected) have lost a few - we run at a loss of 50% in normal years. The final island-by-island totals include:
South Wamses 418
Brownsman 358
Staple Island 343
North Wamses 293
Northern Hares 54
Knoxes Reef 12
Big Harcar 11
West Wideopens 6
Longstone 3
Nameless 1
Overall total: 1,499
