Elizabeth (Biz) Bell, Paul Garner-Richards, Dave Boyle, Kelvin Floyd (WMIL) and Bob Swann (NTS) arrived on Canna on Saturday 27th August. Three further WMIL staff arrived on the island on 29th August (Lyn Byrne) and 31st August (John Tayton and Karen Mayhew).
Two Edinburgh Zoo staff spent two nights (27th to 29th August) on the island to trap mice for pathology work. No mice were caught. As there was a request from the media for mice to photograph on the media day (20 September) and the mice team arrival has been delayed until 19th September, four Longworth live traps have been set (since Thursday 8th September). No mice have been caught to date.
The first week (27th August to 4th September) was spent exploring the island, being shown the cliff access routes by Bob, determining the rope-access requirements and developing bait station grid lay-out and patterns.
Farm buildings and houses were inspected. Discussed storage for the eradication equipment and captive mice, as well as stock management and feeding with Geraldine (Gerry) MacKinnon (the farmer).
Discussed the options for dealing with the issue of the local chickens with their owners. All Islanders were happy to have chickens removed for the period of the project and replaced when the project was finished. A supply of eggs for each household will be built into the project food orders.
All supplies (bait and monitoring stations, wire, tags etc.) were checked to ensure all equipment was present on the island. Any missing items were reported to Bob and added to his list to source when he left the island.
Areas or houses with reported rat sign were checked (i.e. Caslum, Canna House, Teachers house on Sanday etc.). Several rat runs have been identified. These will be targeted with trapping prior to the poisoning phase of the operation.
First rat trapping line was established. Twenty four sets (two snap traps per site) have been set around the Doirlinn area. There is a combination of trap types – T-Rex (donated by Bell Laboratories) and Little Nippers. To date 13 rats have been caught (10 females, 3 males). The NTS volunteers (Iain Smith, John McTague, I-Hua Wu and Luke Banse) arrived on 5th September. Induction and Health and Safety Instructions for the island and project were given.
The bait station grid establishment phase began on 6th September. Over 1200 stations have been put out to date - Tarbert Road and slopes, part of the Plateau, much of the in-bye area, Compass Hill and Tarbert parks. Bait stations from Lundy Island were used first and the new bait stations were delivered to Canna on 8th September. Unfortunately the long wires needed to put the stations in were not completed in time to be delivered with the bait stations. Three spare rolls of wire were cut to length by the team and used. Hopefully the remaining wires will be delivered from Edinburgh by next week.
Gerry and Murdo assisted with transporting bulk bags of bait stations around the island (to Coroghon, Tarbert, Sanday and Tighard). Pakky MacKinnon and Winnie MacKinnon (Island Administrator) have assisted with moving food, equipment and other supplies around for the team. Winnie has ensured that the house has everything required for the team and has supplied a new drier and fridge. Wendy MacKinnon has assisted in obtaining fresh food supplies and ensuring the team is comfortable and has everything they need. Catherine MacKinnon has assisted with the field work on her weekends. Magda showed us around Canna House.
The quad bike has been ordered and is hopefully due for delivery by the end of the coming week.
Briefed Winnie on the project – including team details, work programme, rubbish, status reports and briefing meetings. Winnie and all other islanders have been invited to attend briefing meetings whenever they wish. Also had a meeting with Phil Wren (Coastguard Sector Manager, Fort William) about Health and Safety, cliff access and rescue and evacuation procedures.
Bob Swann left Canna on Wednesday 7th September.
Biz Bell, WMIL, Sunday 11 September 2005
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