NTS Volunteer, Toby Hogbin, arrived on Thursday 16th November.
Continued monitoring at the "summer reported rat sighting areas" has shown no rat sign or activity. Checking all the monitoring in the bait stations has been completed on Sanday, Iolasgor, Langanes (twice), Lamasgor (twice), In-Bye (including Canna House, Islands and Beach Road), Compass Hill, Garrisdale, Water-tanks, Terraces, Geugasgor (twice), Sloc (three times), Tarbert Road, Tarbert Paddocks, West Plateau, East Plateau, Nunnery (twice), West End (twice) and Coroghon. No rat sign has been detected.
Monitoring outside the bait stations has been checked at Sanday, Iolasgor, Langanes (twice), Lamasgor (twice), In-Bye (including Canna House, Islands and Beach Road), Compass Hill, Garrisdale, Water-tanks, Terraces, Geugasgor (twice), Sloc (three times), Tarbert Road, Tarbert Paddocks, West Plateau, East Plateau, Nunnery (twice), West End (twice) and Coroghon. No rat sign has been detected. Trap boxes along the pier and part of Beach Road where checked. No rats were caught or detected.
Bait and monitoring stations from most of the Tarbert Paddocks (excluding those on the coast) and most of the In-Bye areas (excluding those areas that had "summer reported sightings") and Tarbert Road (Lines B and C) were removed.
All the bait required for the Falkland Island was transported to the pier and placed on pallets. Transportation will be arranged to remove it from Canna as soon as possible (which looks as though it will be middle of next week).
A small monitoring project for mice was developed for the Canna School. Twenty monitoring stations have been placed around the school (where the Canna Wood Mice were trapped during the original collection of captive mice). These stations will be monitored by Carolyn MacKinnon as part of her school work and she will produce a report for the National Trust for Scotland and Edinburgh Zoo outlining the work and recommending action depending on whether she records mice in the area or not.
Geoff Soe-Paing has his training to assist with the long-term monitoring requirements of the project. He will continue this training throughout the remainder of the programme and will be responsible for the long-term monitoring work over the summer.
Weather has been good, with only a partial day lost to bad conditions, when stations were removed, the rodent motels finished and chocolate wax blocks made.
Biz Bell, Dave Boyle and Paul Garner-Richards – WMIL, Sunday 19th November 2006
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