Blogs

I've checked again for new data today (Friday 6th) but there's none available yet. It's looking like it'll become available tomorrow - as that's 7 days into November. Unfortunately I don't have access to a computer at the weekend - so it'll be Monday before I can get hold of it. Monday morning it'll be the priority job (unless something more urgent turns up...).

In the meantime, if you are around this Sunday it's the last of this year's Goost Roost Watches at Loch Garten - if you're in the area come along - it's looking like the weather will be better than last Sunday. It's on between 4 and 5pm - no guarantee of geese, but we had some last time even in the torrential rain. If we're lucky we might get to see and hear them whiffling as they come into land.

Have a nice weekend.

...for a few days at any rate.

Well the last of the hourly data is in (thanks to the volunteers). The latest point I got for Rothes was 12 noon on Saturday (31st), and for Mallachie it was 2pm. The data shows both of them to have hung around their respective patches - Rothes near Varela and Mallachie near Sotokoi.

I'll check for new data regularly until I find out which day we'll be getting it through. In the meantime I'll not write any new blogs until I have some data to write about. So there'll be a bit of a gap in blogs for a little while.

The Goose Roost Watch went better than Richard and I expected - there were actually some geese and people. There was also quite a lot of rain - fortunately we didn't get the flooding they got over in Aberdeenshire...

I'll update again soon...

Well Rothes and Mallachie have stuck with where they were for the last 24 hours or so. As of 11am this morning (30th) Rothes was still near Varela, and Mallachie was between Jareng Tenda and Dasilami (latest point 10am this morning).

Tomorrow is the 31st of October - so the last day we will get hourly data. I'll update again on Monday, but I won't get any of November's data until a week has gone by (I don't think). I'll check every day until I know for sure what day the data becomes available - so you guys will get it as soon as possible.

Enjoy your trick or treating tomorrow and if you are coming to Sunday's Goose Roost Watch at Loch Garten (4-5pm) I'll see you there.

Have a nice weekend.

Well the latest data from Rothes and Mallachie shows them both to have stayed in the same areas as the last update. The data is for up until 10pm yesterday (28th) for both of them, with Rothes still near Varela and Mallachie near Sotokoi. They are both making short flights in their local area, but not doing anything dramatic (at least not caught by the tracking devices!).

Here at Abernethy it's been a dry sunny day (from what I could tell looking out the window - it's been an office day for me today...). The weather's due to get wet again tomorrow though I think.

If you are in the area on Sunday afternoon (1st November) between 4 and 5pm, Richard and I will be at Loch Garten for the first of our 2 Goose Roost Watches. There's several 100 geese in the Strathspey area at the moment, with more still arriving from the north. We can't guarantee geese on the day, but Richard will have scopes and his expertise and I'll bring the tea and coffee... Bring waterproofs and warm clothes if you plan to come along (just in case...). There's another one on the Sunday after (8th).

More tomorrow.

Well I didn't get much new data through today - just one new point for Mallachie, and 4 new points for Rothes.

Mallachie was still in the Gambia close to Jarreng Tenda (this was at 5pm yesterday - 27th).

Rothes headed north into Senegal close to Cap Skirring until 11am yesterday, then headed back into Guinea Bissau for 3pm (the latest point I have) close to Catao Butame, E of Varela.

Hopefully I'll get a bit more data tomorrow.

Deadwood creation (for those of you who were asking) is where we go into the areas of the forest that have been identified as not having much deadwood in and create it. Basically we use chainsaws or a hand winch (which is heavy to carry about and hard work - which why the volunteers usually end up using it...) and make an intentional mess. By using a winch we end up with uprooted trees, with a chainsaw we can fell them close to the ground or higher up, ringbark them (to make them die but still be standing) etc etc. It's all about getting a bit of variety.

Deadwood is important in the forest because it supports lots of invertebrate species and birds etc. A few facts I got off Richard: Abernethy is the top ranked site in Scotland for saproxylic (living on deadwood) beetles (with 144 species recorded); at least 90 saproxylic species of conservation concern have been recorded on Abernethy; 35 species of deadwood dependant lichen and 16 species of deadwood dependant fly have been recorded on Abernethy; also at least 12 species of bird including goldeneye duck, redstart, crested tit, wryneck, swift, treecreeper etc (off the top off Richard's head) nest in holes in trees (or nestboxes!) and dead trees are more likely to have holes in. So you can see it's pretty important to have deadwood in a forest. It's also good fun to create it (though tiring...).

I'll update again tomorrow.

Well Mallachie has hung around Sotokoi in The Gambia for the last 24 hours or so. She roosted there last night (26th) having spent the day there and up until 11am this morning (the latest point I have) that's where she was. Looking at the satellite picture you can see it's an area with lots of water channels (and I assume that may still be the case at this time of year) and so should be good fishing. It'll be interesting to see if she sticks around there any longer or moves on somewhere else.

Rothes meanwhile had another quietish day - she hung around Varela yesterday afternoon, then headed NW to near Sucujaque - right near the border with Senegal. She spent last night there and as of 8am this morning (27th) that's where she was.

Meanwhile here at Abernethy it's been raining nearly all day. That didn't stop me and the vols heading out to create some more deadwood. They were winching and I was chainsawing. When we got back to dry off I set them onto satellite data entry (so you can thank them for tonight's map) and I created a map of the deadwood we've done so far this winter - we've covered much more than I had thought - and it's looking good. We'll be back out again tomorrow (unless the pickups have floated away!).

More tomorrow.

Well Mallachie didn't stick around close to Rothes for long. After that 5km close flyby and change of direction back to the north, that's where she continued heading. On Friday it was back into The Gambia by 4pm passing by Soma, Kunjo and Sanka Lang - where she roosted on Friday night (23rd). On Saturday she was back into north Senegal by 10am, though only briefly - being back into The Gambia by 11am. She crossed the River Gambia passing Potodi and Palaka, then roosted on Saturday night near Sotokoi. Sunday saw her give up the move move move mentality for a restful day - staying close by Sotokoi near the river all day and roosting there again. The latest point I have for her is 7am this morning when she was in the same area.

Rothes meanwhile had a very uneventful weekend movement wise - she barely moved away form the Varela area in Guinea Bissau. Though she did head out over the sea briefly for a couple of hours yesterday (26th).

Thanks to this week's short term volunteers who entered a lot of the data today (I did some too - so if there are any mistakes when the map gets published you can blame me!).

More tomorrow.

Well it got pretty exciting at about 3pm yesterday (22nd).

When the map updates this evening at around 8pm you'll see (assuming I put all the data in right...) that Mallachie continued SW in the morning till getting close to the coast of Senegal, and then turned S to follow the coast. At 2pm she was close to Kaboukoute in Senegal. She then continued S across the border into Guinea Bissau - coming to be within about 5km (or even less than that) to where Rothes was hanging around near Varela.

So that's pretty exciting... The data for Rothes has a gap between 12noon and 4pm for yesterday though (so potentially she had headed off out into the sea miles away from where Mallachie got to at 3pm - but I'm not planning on believing that - as she had been pretty settled the last while in the area near Varela).

Mallachie though didn't hang around in Guinea Bissau. Instead she headed E and slightly N back into Senegal, inland along the river. At 11am this morning (23rd) she was close to Badjikounda. Rothes stayed near Varela - the last point I have for her was 10am this morning.

I'll update again on Monday. Have a nice weekend.

...is about all that's separating Mallachie and Rothes.

Since 12noon on the 19th Rothes has mainly been dodging about the northern part of Guinea Bissau, with a brief hop into Sengal. On the 19th, 20th and 21st (last night) she roosted close to Varela - maybe becoming a favoured area? That's where she was at 6am this morning (22nd).

Mallachie meanwhile has continued her migration. She continued SW and reached The Gambia at 11am on 20th (Tuesday). She then turned more to the W and followed the Gambia River downstream, roosting close to Jarreng Tenda on 20th. Yesterday saw her continue SW back into Senegal. Last night she roosted near Djinaki (which is where she was at 8am this morning, the latest point I have for her).

So this morning it was only about 100km between them - will they get closer?

For those of you asking about frequency of updates - it's my understanding that we'll get hourly data and so daily updates until the end of October. From November the data fixes will be reduced to twice a day, with the data available for download once a week - and so weekly updates - probably on a Friday, with missing data added in on Mondays. At some point in the spring the data will go hourly again for a bit, then over the summer it'll be back to twice a day. This will continue for up to 3 years.

More tomorrow.

I'm afraid this is just a brief update as I've only just got back to the office after a pretty busy day.

Mallachie's most recent point is for 10pm last night (20th) when she was close to Jarreng Tenda in the Gambia. So she's still progressing south.

Rothes was still on the Guinea Bissau mainland, close to Varela, which is pretty close to Senegal. That was also at 10pm last night.

Please accept my apologies that I haven't entered any of the data in today - I just looked on google maps to see where the last known points are. As such the map won't get updated tonight. I'll make it a priority tomorrow.

More tomorrow.

I didn't get much new data to enter today. Just 2 new points for Rothes - she was still on the mainland of Guinea Bissau, and headed N towards Sancatuto (as of 12noon yesterday, 19th).

Meanwhile Mallachie continued SW through Senegal passing over the Reserve de Faune du Ferlo Nord. At 5pm yesterday (the latest point I have) she was about 50km ish from the border with The Gambia.

Apologies for the failure of the map update yesterday - it should all get updated tonight by about 8pm ish.

More tomorrow.

Well Mallachie has travelled a fair distance this weekend. When we left her on Friday (with data up to 6pm on Thursday, 15th) she was in the north of Mauritania. Over the last three days she has headed S, passing Zouerate in Mauritania and heading into Western Sahara and past Choum on Friday and roosting near Atar back in Mauritania. Continuing S on Saturday she past Akjoujit, roosting nearby. Sunday saw her journey S continue, roosting S of Mal. Today (19th) she entered Senegal (just) - she was close to Belkindi at 11am this morning. She's pretty close to Reserve de Faune du Ferlo-Nord to her S and Reserve Sylvo-Pastorale des six Forages to her SW - perhaps she'll pay them a visit?

Meanwhile Rothes has had a less travelled weekend, spending most of Friday and Saturday on Ilha Caravela. Yesterday, though she headed N  onto Ilha de Jeta, before heading onto the mainland and Cachalame, where she roosted. Today she continued on N to close to Igim, which is where she was at 10am this morning.

Thanks to this week's short term volunteers who put the data in for me while I sharpened my chainsaw after this morning's deadwood creation session.

More tomorrow.

...so not much to report.

When I downloaded the data today I only got 3 new points (all for Mallachie). So I can't tell you all anything new about Rothes, though I'm sure she's doing fine on one of those islands off Guinea Bissau. Mallachie's 3 points are for 2-4pm yesterday (15th). They show her continuing in a SW direction through the northern part of Mauritania.

Sorry I can't tell you more than that - but it does mean I'll have extra data to input on Monday - so you can look forward to Monday's update.

Have a good weekend.

Mallachie has made it to Mauritania. After we left her in Algeria at 6am yesterday morning (14th) she headed off in a SW direction getting to Western Sahara by 12noon. She continued on and reached Mauritania by 6pm. She continued on until about 8pm, when she stopped to roost. At 10am this morning (15th), the latest point I have, she was about 150km E of Bir Moghrein.

Rothes meanwhile had another fairly relaxed day movement wise. After roosting on Ilha Caravela, she spent the whole of yesterday on there, roosting there again last night. The latest point I have for her is also 10am this morning. It's probably to early to think this might be her prefered island out of all of them...

Thanks to this week's short term residential volunteers who entered all the data for me today.

More tomorrow.

Depending which direction Mallachie heads in next, she'll soon be into Western Sahara or Mauritania (or probably already is). I've entered the data and the latest point I have for her was 6am this morning (14th). She was close to Tindouf in Algeria close to the border with Western Sahara and Mauritania. I'm sure over the course of today she's progressed further. Over the course of yesterday she headed SW - so slightly out towards the coast - a good thing I think. I'll update again tomorrow.

Rothes meanwhile had a relaxing day yesterday (I assume), spending most of the day on Ilha de Carache, then heading onto Ilha Caravela to roost. The latest point I have for her was 6am this morning when she was on Ilha Caravela.

Here at Abernethy, the water is working again - no frog was found, though I'm not ruling it out as the problem! Fortunately the entire pipe didn't need to be dug up (100s of m long), which was a relief for everyone.

More tomorrow.