Friday 11th September comments: People often ask about wet and windy days on the island and what we get up to. Its interesting question as the visitor boats can’t sail and therefore we are free from the public. During the summer months we can get on with monitoring or seabird population counting amongst a lot of other tasks but at this time of year our focus is on the island itself.

As the seabirds have long departed, it gives us an opportunity to work in areas which we were restricted to working, especially with underground nesting Puffins or ground nesting Terns, Eiders and large Gulls to consider. At this time of year we can review the infrastructure of the island and put in place future planning and in recent weeks that has included several new measures to help protect our special wildlife.

A new boardwalk has been constructed on a particularly fragile soil cap which will allow visitors to walk along but keep the Puffin burrows safe whilst some new steps will ensure people don’t wander off the tracks. We’ve also been looking at drainage as despite a fairly dry period we know that too much rain at certain times of year can cause flooding issues, so best to deal with it now. Over the next few months we’ll continue to progress vital management work on the Isle of May so that both visitors and birds can enjoy this magical place.