05 November 2004
Our website is now almost 11 months old. We have had lots of very
complimentary feed back from our guests and website visitors alike. As
of today we have had 8900 visitors to the site and many people have
downloaded our brochure. The brochure is now in both high and low
resolution format. With so many people now having very fast internet
access we feel that the better resolution is worth spending a couple of
minutes downloading. If you would like a proper printed copy
please email us with your postal address. The brochure is available in
English, French and German, please tell us which language you would
prefer.
New additions to the website: A Year in the
life of Bird Island check here
We would like to welcome first time visitors
and return visitors alike.
We hope that you enjoy browsing
through our site with its many beautiful photographs and
detailed information about the island.
This page is all about what's happening
on the island and how the various conservation projects are progressing.
If you would like us
to advise you when we have an update of the news page or a new web page
please email us at:
thelodge@birdislandseychelles.com
Special Discounts available
for return guests and also for first time visitors for reservations made via the
website.
Visit our
prices page or
contact us directly.
New Arrivals
Fishing
 As
can be seen from the two photos we have had some excellent fishing ff
the island. The Black Marlin caught by Jacky Delbrel weighed in at 197Kg
and was caught on
Game fishing is fun on
Bird Island. Our experienced skipper Clive, has been working for us
since 1978 and no-one knows the waters around the island as well as he
does. The
big advantage of fishing off Bird is that a mornings fishing will be
more than enough to catch a reasonable selection of fish as we are right
in the middle of the fishing grounds.
Bottom fishing is also
excellent. The red fish above is a Moontail Seabass and was caught on a
hand line by Craig Beaumont. The Chef grilled it with chilli, ginger and
garlic and it was delicious.
Sooty Terns
Very few Sooty Terns are
now left and most likely those chicks that haven't fledged will die as
the parents move away from the island as the currents change, taking
with them the shoals of fish that they feed from.
 Back
to Sooty Tern information
Turtles
On the island our
Turtle season runs from July to June and so we are now at beginning of
our 10th season of turtle monitoring.
The
peak season for Green Turtles is between May and September.
Unfortunately for the guest, these creatures which are much bigger than
the Hawksbill lay usually at night so it's a lucky guest who will
encounter one on a midnight stroll around the island!
After an absence of almost 6 months the first Hawksbill emerged early
morning on 26th September, 3 days earlier than the first one last year.
She had laid and returned to the sea before Steven did his early morning
beach patrol.
Turtle Statistics since July 2004
Green
Turtles:
Since July we have had 10 nests.
Hawksbill Turtles:
1 nest
10 October:
11 nests in total
Total Number of beachings (including
beachings which did not result in a nest): 15
Estimated Turtle hatching dates: (Based
on an average 58 days incubation) -
hatching can vary depending the temperature and
rainfall.
Green Turtles - estimated hatching
dates
October: 10, 17, 24, 29
November: 03,
Hawksbill Turtles -
estimated hatching dates
November: 23
Hatching
Success:
10 October 2004
Nests Hatched:
1
Hatchlings Live:
25
We have relocated two nests which were in
danger of being eroded away by the sea. Nests lost as a result of
erosion
Back
to Turtle Project
Birds
Tropic Birds:
We now have several new nesting sites established which brings the total
of nest sites to 55. There is a lot of competition for nesting sites and
prospective nests are fought over if there is already a nesting pair in
residence. Since we have begun to clear around the Casuarina trees on
the eastern coast, 3 nesting sites have already been established. This
is quite a long term project as the clearing is labour intensive and
there are quite a lot of large trees which need access. Currently we
have 3 birds incubating eggs and 4 chicks.
Back
to Tropic Bird project
Migrants/Vagrants:
Rare visitors include a
Ruff, (spotted by Phil Norah) and a Squacco Heron.
Migrant Count.
This count gives the maximum number of Birds seen on any one day since
18th September. All the migrants which were obviously moulting their winter
plumage have now left the island including the Black-winged Stilt and
Oriental Pratincole.
Most Common migrants:
75 Frigatebirds, 15 Grey Plovers, 11 Lesser Sandplovers, 9 Greater
Sandplovers, 4 Crab Plovers, 52 Whimbrels, 230 Turnstones, 6
Sanderlings, 17 Curlew Sandpipers, 2 Bartailed Godwits, 1 Curlew, 2
Greenshanks, 19 Crested Terns, 58 Bridled Terns, 237 Saunders Little
Terns, 1 Brown Booby, 1 Moorhen, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Arctic Skua, 1
Grey Heron, 1 Squacco Heron, 1 Ruff.
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