Catching Yelkouans

Here, I climbed down the cliff to sit on a narrow ledge, where the Yelkouan shearwaters have their nests along cracks in the cliff face. A group of us sat here, on little Comino, sat while the sun went down waiting for the Yelkouans to come in from the sea and catch them. They are beautiful birds, with lovely silky feathers and it was so interesting to see them up close and touch them. Once caught they were weighed and ringed, as part of the Life+ Seabird project.

This was an awesome end to such a good day, me and Becky took a day out of the office to visit Comino a little island between Malta and Gozo. We spent some time on a beach and had the first swim since being here in Malta. Then we visited the bird ringing station on the island and helped out a bit there. Then in the evening to get to little Comino and the Yelkouan nest, we used an inflatable kayak across the Blue Lagoon - an area which normally is so full of tourists it's not at-all appealing, but in the evening, when the last boat has left, it was perfect.