Late last year I had the privilege of collecting field data for my Conservation Biology MSc thesis on Nightingale Island. I kind of shot myself in the foot a bit with that because it meant I had 3 months less time to write up than all of my classmates. I have little to no experience writing up scientific papers, and although I have good writing skills in general I’ve learned that scientific writing is a peculiar beast which requires weeks of sweat, blood and tears (oh, so many tears!) to wrestle into submission for those who have not encountered it before. I’ve had to get an extension for my write-up – I am very lucky that my supervisors are so kind, supportive and helpful – but living on Nightingale and working with the penguins was worth all of the trouble a thousand times over.
Oddly enough, I’ve never been interested in single species conservation. I wanted to do a project on sustainable agriculture or climate change, and the only reason I am now writing about the breeding biology of Northern Rockhopper Penguins is because there’s still a part of me that’s the little girl who lived for books like Robinson Crusoe, the Famous Five and the Swiss Family Robinson. Apparently 27 isn’t too old to desperately want to have adventures on a remote deserted island with buried treasure and exotic wildlife. I never realised I would fall in love with my study species and the island itself, but just look at this place:

A Northern Rockhopper Penguin and chick with a pipping egg. My fieldwork involved measuring and weighing eggs and chicks.

The amount of fuss the chicks make when you catch them is hilarious considering how they seem to enjoy sitting on one’s lap while waiting to be measured…

Half of my penguin study chicks disappeared down this hungry skua chick’s gullet… I’ve never seen such a gigantic mouth on such a small thing!

The Nightingale Bunting is similar to the Wilkins’ Bunting, you can distinguish them by their beaks.

This island actually is supposed to have buried spanish pirate treasure… I reckon if it exists it’s hidden in one of the caves around the island. If only I hadn’t been so sea-sick I could have investigated properly…

This is a prion, a bird which is active at night. If only they hadn’t been nesting behind my hut! They are the noisiest birds I have ever met, and their technique for getting back to their nest involved crash-landing onto my tin roof and dragging their claws down it to make that classic nails-on-a-chalkboard noise. I did get used to it after a bit though.

A creche of older Northern Rockhopper Penguin chicks – the one with purple on his front is one of my study chicks

On one of the last days I went on this most exciting hike, traversing a sheer cliff while hanging off tussock and hoping and praying it wouldn’t get uprooted…
I will never forget it, and I am so incredibly lucky to have stayed there. If you want to see more, Otto Whitehead has made a really beautiful video from his time on the island http://vimeo.com/62427733