Spring update from Looe Island, and some new faces on the island

An update from Looe Island Warden, Claire: volunteers, webcam updates, events, and of course, wildlife!

Spring has sprung and the island is popping with new life and new activity.

One of the most exciting things is that residential volunteers Rosie and Leonard have joined us for the season… but I’ll leave them to introduce themselves!

With the help of the residential volunteers, we have freed up time to bring back our popular Guided Walks. There are walks that focus on island life and the practicalities of living on and running an island nature reserve, as well as walks that focus on island wildlife and how it is monitored. This season Cornwall Wildlife Trust have also introduced walks that explore the island’s historic tales, smugglers, and ghosts!

Find out more information and book a place here:

Explore Looe Island events

The island’s shores are not only a resting and feeding ground for wildlife but also a place where many birds breed. One of our favourite nesting birds is the oystercatcher. With their bold black and white plumage and long orange bill they are very distinctive. However, their nests -- which are really just simple scrapes (small depressions) on the ground -- are not so obvious! And the parents’ habit of walking away from a nest when disturbed makes their well camouflaged eggs very vulnerable to trampling and possible predation.

Fortunately, as all access to the island is carefully managed and landing can only occur through the authorised trips so we are able to raise awareness with our visitors to the need to give all wildlife space so it can thrive.

Oystercatchers lined up on rocks by Claire Lewis

Oystercatcher nest by Claire Lewis

Oystercatcher from by Claire Lewis

A comically grey and white fluffy chick with long orange beak sits atop a grey algae covereed rock an almost blends in!

Oystercatcher Chick on rocks by Claire Lewis

And now a word from one of our residential volunteers:

A man and woman on a small orange tractor with a long trailer on the back, on the shore

Hello, Rosie here!

Myself and Len are volunteering on Looe Island this season. So far we’ve spent the last few weeks learning as much as we can about wildlife and the rhythm of island life. One part of this has been doing tractor training so that we can position the mobile jetty and help visitors arrive on the main beach.

We have also been helping to set up camera traps to monitor the nest of oystercatchers, herring gulls, and great black-backed gulls. The data collected is being shared with the RSPB. Cornwall Wildlife Trust and RSPB are working together to understand more about nest predation and the footage will help inform the best way forward. We have already seen lots of interesting behaviour but not caught any predators red-handed yet!

Another highlight has been learning about grey seals. It’s fascinating to learn about how they need space to thrive. Did you know that they sleep in the sea as well as on land? If left undisturbed they don’t get stressed. They won’t waste energy going to investigate or flee from disturbance. If they rest well, they will be better prepared to for the challenges that lay ahead, challenges such as moulting and breeding. We are looking forward to sharing what we’ve learnt with visitors this summer!