2019 February Clam surveys
French researcher Serge Andrefouet was on the island to do surveys of the clam species Tridacna maxima.Lord Howe Island has the most southerly breeding location in the world of this species, and Serge was keen to do size distributions studies, and sample tissue for DNA analysis to investigate the distribution patterns in the Pacific of this […]
2019 February Sea slug census
This was the second Sea Slug Census held at Lord Howe Island with Steve Smith and Matt Nimbs from the National Marine Science Centre at Coffs harbour. Matt and Steve gave a presentation on sea slugs and their biology on Tuesday night, an then we ran the 48 hours census Wednesday 20thand Thursday 21st. Many […]
2018 November Bird sub fossil surveys
Julian Hume from NHM London was in Australia to examine subfossil bird bones held in Canberra that had been collected on Lord Howe island in the 1970’s. As part of his Australia visit Julian included a field trip to Lord Howe Island to examine the sites where they had been collected. I was part of […]
2018 November Birdweek
This week was enjoyed by thirteen people keen to see all of the birds of Lord Howe Island. Good weather allowed all the walks and boat trips to be completed. The highlight days must have been the pelagic trip off shore with good viewing of many seabirds in their natural habitat; and the North Bay […]
Hawaii National Tropical Botanic Gardens group
In October 2018, I hosted a group of trustees from the Hawaii National Tropical Botanic Gardens on their 7 day island tour. A great group, very enthusiastic about the plants, birds and marine life here. [divider_padding]
Great cormorant visits
Every few years cormorants visit Lord howe Island. Spotted this week this juvenile Great cormorant on the rocks near the jetty
Little shearwaters fledging
October and November the Little shearwaters are fledging and we sometimes spot them at sea having rest on the water. This one out near Balls Pyramid.
Landbird Surveys September 10 to 17
A week carrying out landbird surveys as part of pre rodent eradication monitoring. This is the 5th survey and we visited 96 sites for 10 minute bird counts, twice each site. The eradication program is happening next year and we will see a big change in birds after that.
Friends of Lord Howe Island Weeding ecotour August 2018
10 people along for this week to assist with conservation on the island. Some very productive work removing Sea Spurge form the beaches, including an area that has not yet so far been treated – some very large plants removed. We also carried follow up work at Edie’s Glen and the Coastal morning glory at […]
Beetle week July 2018
In July the Lord Howe Island Museum and Australian Museum as part of Conservation Volunteers program ran a Beetle Week. Dr Chris Reid from A. M. and I led the week surveying beetles at 15 sites on the island. Visitors and locals enjoyed getting out in the forest learning about the island’s beetles from. The […]