One wheel bearing on the quad trailer went this week. It has been replaced with one from another trailer on the island. Bob is organising spares to be sent to us.
Four bait stations were placed on a stack at Dun Teadh on the north western coast. These stations have 30 blocks of bait per station as they may not be checked as regularly due to tide, weather and sea condition constraints. A rope has been put in to make access easier. The fourth bait check was started this week. The majority of the island has been covered with the last cliff section scheduled for Monday 28th November.
Black lockable bait stations have now been put into all properties on the island. They have also been placed around the RJ McLeods camp near the pier. These will be checked regularly by the team. The stations require a special key to open so cannot be interfered with by children, and the bait is not accessible to dogs and cats.
The Hooded Crow found dead last week shows no sign of having been poisoned. Crows have continued taking a small amount of bait in a few areas but seem to immediately cough the block up again in the form of a pellet. Bait will be wired in to the stations in the in-bye fields to prevent this from continuing. A dead adult rat, which appeared to have symptoms of poisoning, was found inside of McIsaac’s crofthouse on Sanday. The rat was found while the building was being swept out. A live rat was seen running out of Tarbert Barn. To date no bait take has been recorded from the two bait stations inside the barn. Traps will be set in the barn. Two trap sets have been put in the main shed amongst the pallets of stock feed. Several bags have been chewed into by rats. Half a day of work time was lost this week due to the weather.
Biz Bell and Kelvin Floyd (WMIL) departed on Saturday 26th November. Karen Mayhew (WMIL), Toby Hogbin, Alice Greenacre and Jimmy Huis (NTS volunteers) arrived on Saturday 26th November.
Dave Boyle and Paul Garner-Richards WMIL. Sunday 27th November 2005
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