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SCHOOL EMAILS
INTRODUCTION
Lista
Light has twinned with two primary schools in Devon; Doddiscombsleigh and
Landscore. Our mission is to create enthusiasm in the natural world and
motivate people to conserve the environment. What better than to share our
experiences with schools from a floating classroom as we journey from country
to country?!
I have
been working as an Ecologist for the past seven years. On occasion this has
involved my leading school, university and special needs groups in the
countryside, tracking wildlife and learning about how to restore habitats and
increase the range of wildlife. This has led me to think about teaching in the
future and what better a start then to work with schools from our boat.
Guided walks
I grew up
in Devon (my grandparents farmed there) and was living near Dartmoor before we
sailed away from the River Exe. One of my better names is the, ‘Devon tourist
board!’ as I gush with superlatives when describing the fair county. What
better a place to find schools that might wish to link with us then amid
Devon’s verdant rolling hills, sunken lanes, rugged moorlands and coastline.
Devon
The two
schools I am working with are quite different in scale but united in their
interest in the natural world, with committed teachers keen in developing
environmental awareness amongst the pupils.
Landscore
Primary School is based in the market town of Crediton, near Exeter with over
275 pupils. Mr Gary Read is the Head Teacher and Ms Erika Gooding the Deputy
Head. I was particularly interested in the school as they have begun all sorts
of environmental projects including: recycling and composting schemes, car free
travel to school days, fair trade snack stalls (run by the pupils), created a
vegetable garden and made a roofed cob seating area. Superb! To find out more
about this dynamic school go to http://www.landscore-primary.devon.sch.uk
Doddiscombsleigh
Primary School lies below the Haldon Hills in the Teign Valley, just on the
edge of the Dartmoor National Park. It is much smaller than Landscore with less
than 80 pupils. Mrs Sarah Evans is the Headmistress. The school is very
interested in incorporating the environment into lessons when possible and
linking with the local village community. You can view the school on line at http://www.doddi.devon.sch.uk
I visited
both schools in September 2008 and led an assembly about Lista Light, our
mission to conserve, promote and enjoy the natural world and how the schools
could get involved. It began by stepping back in time and boarding Christopher
Columbus’s ship, imagining the waves crashing over the boat, that sea monsters
living beneath and the pirates trying to board the ship. The crew were becoming
restless and hungry they were plotting behind the captain’s back, thinking of
mutiny, they had not seen land for weeks. Then suddenly one morning land
appeared, they had reached the new world!
Lista Light
Switching
to the present, it’s now Lista Light who is sailing the seas in Christopher
Columbus’s wake. We know that the earth is not flat and we can read about the
countries we will visit, but sailing across the Atlantic is still a scary leap
and could take over thirty days on our old wooden fishing boat. We will have to
feed and water ourselves, watch for ships all through the night and read the
sky for the weather. We will record any wildlife we see and prepare for our
bird survey work which begins in the Caribbean. It will be our first Christmas
on water rather than land!
Below are
a selection of emails that I have sent and received from the schools. I hope
that in the future we may twin with other schools and that we can provide
up-to-date facts and living case studies for lessons.
QUESTIONS FROM LANDSCORE PRIMARY
SCHOOL AND MY REPLIES, OCTOBER 1 2008
Dear Katharine, I asked some children to think
of more questions to ask you …… so here they are…..
Thank
you for your email and all the questions, I have written the answers in red
What are the rarest birds & mammals you
hope to see? Thomas, 9 yrs old.
Good
question, Thomas. We will begin bird surveying properly in the Caribbean in the
New Year. The special thing about the Caribbean is that many of the islands
contain bird species that are endemic to them. ‘Endemic’ means that the birds
are only found on one island, nowhere else in the world. Endemic wildlife is
often found on islands. This is because they are often far from the mainland, which
makes it difficult for wildlife to reach them and because they have been
isolated from mainland countries for thousands of years. These two factors have
allowed bird species to change and specialise to the island and adapt into new
species. It would be like you or I moving to a distant desert island. Our great
great great grandsons would be very different to us. They would choose mates
with particular features and skills that would allow them to live longer and
flourish on the island. Over time the features they selected for in their mates
would become stronger through generations, until they no longer looked like you
or I, because they had evolved into new species! Perhaps they would have huge
noses (like an anteater) for sniffing out grubs or massive ears to find fish
swishing threw rivers? Perhaps they would like this?!
Evolution
Back
to the question! There are many birds and animals that I have never seen and
that I hope to see, these include: flamingos, terns, petrels, frigate birds,
pelicans, boobies and tropic birds. Mammal wise, I hope to see many species of
dolphins and whales, many of which are rare. I will report back to you on the
website about the rarest birds and animals we see.
Let us know if you see any
octopuses. Sam, 6 yrs old.
Thank you Sam, I will! Octopuses are amazing animals which can change
their colours depending on their surroundings. I hope if we snorkel or dive
that we might find some. At the moment the only octopus I have seen have been
on a plate in Spain! The Spanish love to eat sea food and battered octopus is
one of their favourites.
Can you let us know when you
see any sharks? Harry, 6 yrs old.
Definitely, Sam. At the moment we’re in Vigo in the North West of Spain.
On the way to the city, we anchored near some islands called Islas Cies. They
are protected as a nature reserve for their birds and plants. I swam over to
them to see what birds I might find. The water was very deep and completely
dark green, I couldn’t see a thing. I kept on imagining I might bump into a shark
during my swim, but not this time! There are many different species of shark in
the world, many are rare, so I´m looking forward to finding out more about them
and hopefully catching a glimpse of one.
Will you see any turtles? Ryan, 6 yrs old.
I hope so, Ryan. They breed on some of the Caribbean Islands that we
hope to visit. The Mothers come ashore to the same beaches that they were born
and under the stars dig a hole in the sand and lay their eggs. On a high tide,
under a full moon the tortoise babies hatch and swim to the sea. The Mother
lays many eggs to ensure that some tortoises survive as they are very
vulnerable when they are small and are eaten by bigger sea creatures. I will
report on our wildlife pages if we see any.
I will keep you posted of
our progress!
AN EMAIL FROM PORTO, 15
OCTOBER, 2008
Hello!
Just a quick email to keep you
updated of Lista Light's progress down the Atlantic coast. We are currently in
Lexios, south of Porto, Portugal.
We have spent the last couple of
days in the harbour doing work on Lista Light. This has involved climbing the
mast, madly holding onto the shrouds (ropes that hold up the mast) with a
chisel in one hand scraping varnish off, then sanding and lacquering the mast.
A scary process, but necessary to allow us to pull up the wooden rings that run
up and down the mast that carry the sails. They were badly creaking before and
often became stuck, so we hope this will work. It should also increase the life
of the mast.
Sanding the mast
The view from the mast was
incredible! I could see huge shoals of grey mullet- over 100 fry (young fish)
and mature fish. They have a weird habit of looking like terrapins as they
raise their heads above the water and feed upon surface debris You can find
them in many of the estuaries in the UK, including the Exe and Teign. They are
not typically consumed, but we caught two and will report back if they are good
to eat!
Grey mullet
We left La Coruna and sailed to
Vigo. This is said to be the second largest fishing harbour in the world after
one in Japan. Do you know where that might be? This is not surprising
considering the Spaniard's love of sea food. Fish and shell fish are most of
the menus at meal times. We sailed from the harbour behind more than 30 fishing
boats. They gathered together herding shoals of what we thought were sardines
and catching them in drift nets. Their technique was similar to that used by
dolphins- rounding fish up into tight balls where they can pick them off.
Indeed, a large pod of common dolphins joined us and swam with us for most of
our journey to Lexios.
Trawler fishing
Yesterday we cycled to Porto. It
is a beautiful city with many old, hickledy-pickledy houses stacked row upon
row up the hilly, city sides. It has a large bridge over the river, quite like
the Bristol suspension bridge. Many of the buildings had patterned tiles on
them, especially blue and white ones.
I had never been to Portugal
before. The language is like a cross between Spanish and Russian! We have been
sampling the local specialities including: huge, sweet grapes; thimbles of
strong, black coffee like tar(nasty!) and port (fortified wine of many colours-
yum!)
On our cycle ride to Porto we saw
a flock of grey herons- over 40. Incredible! They were queuing up by a stream
running into the sea, grabbing at passing fish and eels, standing completely
still, or attacking one another. They were wonderful to watch. It's fascinating
watching grey herons in their heronries. In the UK, they congregate in January,
February and March, building their nests high up in the tree tops. They're a
raucous, squabbling bunch, howling and attacking one another. If you get a
chance you could see them at Powderham (also little egrets)or you may find a
closer heronry.
Herons
We leave for Lisbon tomorrow. We
should sail there in a couple of days. We hope to journey to the cork forests
when we arrive. They are special habitats that have become more rare as people
choose plastic stoppers and screw tops over corks. They support rare species of
animals including birds of prey, mongeese, butterflies, wildflowers and lynx.
These unique ecosystems provide traditional jobs for local communities. We hope
to investigate them and report back.
Please check out the greening of
the boat page, it may be of interest www.listalight.co.uk/preparation.asp.
Meanwhile, please email me any questions that the pupils may have.
QUESTIONS FROM
DODDISCOMBSLEIGH PRIMARY SCHOOL AND MY REPLIES, 16
OCTOBER 2008
Dear Katharine,
We have just read
your letter which sounds very interesting. We are going to track your movements
on a map of Europe. We don't think there are any other heron nest sites closer
to us than Powderham but we see plenty of individual herons raiding our
fishponds! Unfortunately, we haven't found the biggest fishing port yet but we
will soon.
Thank you for your email. Good to hear from you. I'm glad
you have been watching the grey herons, they are a charismatic species and it's
always interesting seeing them fishing, roosting or nesting. They can
definitely clear out a pond very rapidly, but then I suppose you can't blame
them, it would be like someone opening a sweet shop and allowing you to eat as
many sweets as you wanted!
The class and I
have got some questions for you:
1: What other countries will you visit?
The next countries we will visit will be Morocco, North
Africa, the Canary Islands and Cape Verde Islands. After that we shall sail
across the Atlantic. When you are eating your turkey and unwrapping your
presents on Christmas day, we shall probably still be in the middle of the
ocean!
2: Have you seen any rare animal species?
I think the most interesting animal species we have seen so
far is another fin whale off the Portuguese coast. We only saw it very briefly,
unfortunately, it was probably feeding. We have also seen Mediterranean gulls,
which I had not seen before. They are very pretty, with red legs and beaks and
quite like our (British) black headed gulls, but with grey edges to their
wings. The other rear species was I think a Pommerine skua, they are very
difficult birds to identify from a far. We are also keeping records of any
cetacean (whale or dolphins) that we see for the Whale and Dolphin Society.
3: Can you speak any other languages?
Ah, very good question and very important! Well, I learnt
French for many years at school, but am a very rusty. I will need to practice
again for the Caribbean, as some of the islands are French speaking such as
Martinique and Guadeloupe. I am learning Spanish, this will be crucial for
working in Central or Southern America where Spanish is the main language. I
have books and CDs to follow and they blare out annoying everyone on the boat!
AN EMAIL FROM LISBON,
16 OCTOBER
We anchored in a bay near the city
and counted over 73 small fishing boats in the early morning casting nets or
guarding lobster pots as well as larger fishing trawlers making their way to
Lisbon for the fish markets. Concerns about over-fishing are very strong out
here.
We sailed into Lisbon on October 19th
after three days at sea from Lexios near Porto. We made incredibly slow
process, even going backwards (!) as the wind was non-existent, so Lista just
flapped in the breeze. We read and watched birds- plenty of Northern Gannets
(like great, white turkeys) flying in lines of three or four and manx
shearwaters. Both of these species can be seen off the Devon coastline. Gannets
are incredible birds with re-enforced skulls and air pockets in their wing
allowing them to dive at height and plunge onto fish below.
Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and
an impressive city. We sailed underneath its huge suspension bridge, built in
1966, during the right-wing dictator, Antonio de Oliveira Salazar’s rule from,
1932 to 1968. It was renamed, ‘the 25th of April’ bridge marking the Portuguese
revolution of 1974. It is the longest suspension bridge in Europe (1.5 miles)
and made by the same engineers as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The
weird thing about the bridge is that it ‘hums’! It sounds like a swarm of
hornets as cars and lorries drive across the un-tarmaced surface.
The River Tagus winds into Lisbon’s
natural harbour. Archaeologists believe that Phoenicians occupied Lisbon from
1200 BC and that they had a trading post in the centre of the present city. The
estuary provided the ideal spot to restock ships travelling to the ‘tin
islands’ (Isles of Scilly) and Cornwall. Who would have thought that Lisbon
would have such links with the West Country?!
The 15th- 17th centuries marked the
age of discovery, with the Portuguese, like the British rushing to find new
countries and treasure. Vasco de Gama was Portugal’s famous explorer who left
for India in 1497. The 16th century was the golden age for Lisbon. It was the
most important city in Europe, trading goods such as spices, slaves, sugar and
textiles with: Africa, India, the Far East and later Brazil.
Hello, it’s now 26 October! Sorry for
the delay, we had to rapidly move from Cascais, a small fishing harbour nine
miles West of Lisbon, as the winds arrived. We have continued to sail down the
coastline of Portugal, the night before last anchoring in Portinho de Arrabida,
a nature reserve and tonight in Arafana, a tiny bay further down the coast. In
Arrabida, we swam nearly a mile to a small beach watching shoals of fish and
crabs scuttling across the sand. The current was very strong and you could see
seaweed flying across the sea floor like tumble weed. We ran up the hillside to
investigate a white washed village. It turned out to be a nunnery with a series
of shrines marching up the hillside. We asked if we could visit the nuns, but
they were not too impressed, ‘No, no, no, no, no!’
Wooded, herb filled
slopes with religious shrines
The plants on the slopes were
interesting. Many of them you could find in your local garden centre or
botanical gardens. They included evergreen oak and the strawberry tree, which
has red bumpy fruits, but I don’ think you can eat them. We also found rosemary
growing wild, so collected sprigs to cook with. You can find many household
herbs growing wild in the UK, including mint, thyme and marjoram, but make sure
you are absolutely sure you have the identified the plant properly before
eating it! (Nettles are also surprisingly good if picked when young in the
Spring. They are high in iron and you can make soups, stew and tea with them).
Hello Again! Its Halloween,
October 31st, I wonder whether you will be eating pumpkin soup and dressing up
tonight? We are in Baleeira now in the Algarve and it's raining. We sailed
around the most southerly tip of Portugal with the lighthouses guiding us on
our way, but now I am sitting in the internet cafe and the woman at the bar is
scraping out the inside of a pumpkin to use as a lantern!
Baleeira is a small
fishing town. We have been here for a couple of days working on Lista before we
leave Portugal. We spoke to a spear fisherman yesterday who snorkels after fish
to sell to restaurants. He says there are not many fish, but he did catch eels
yesterday. We will leave on Monday/ Tuesday when the winds turn to the north
again. Next stop Africa, Morocco!
AN EMAIL FROM Morocco, November 7 2008
Hello!
The latest report from the floating
charabanc!
It’s November 7 2008 and Lista Light
is moored against a wall in the fishing harbour at El Jadida, Morocco. We
arrived yesterday, after a three day sail from Portugal. It was great to leave
Europe behind and sail into the chaos of Africa!
Arrival into El Jadida
I must first tell you about November
5 on the sea, a wonderful day for wildlife. When we are at sea we take turns at
keeping watch for boats, fishing pots and other hazards, particularly during
the night when visibility is poor. During the night two of the crew members on
watch heard a thud and wondered whether we had been visited by a flying fish.
In the early hours of the morning when I was sitting at the helm I noticed a
small creature, it was not a flying fish, but a common squid Loligo vulgaris! It looked as if it had
been sprayed by ink and had huge, rather beautiful eyes.
Common squid
The common squid is a member of the Cephalopod class. It is a very important
member of the food chain, with many animals including fish and whales feeding
upon it.
Do you know what the
‘food chain’ is?
The food chain refers to the link between plants and
animals that are eaten and what they eat. In the sea, a food chain would be
plankton (tiny animals that drift on the current) –common squid which eat them-
common dolphin which eat squid.
Can you think of a food chain that occurs in your garden or
school playground?
Common squid are also important to
humans and have been harvested for centuries. Other sea creatures in the
Cephalopod class include octopus and cuttlefish. They have very strong touch,
smell, taste and vision. They also have the amazing skill of being able to
change their colour depending on their mood or surroundings. They could, for
example, hide from predators by merging into the ocean floor or flash with
desire towards a possible mate. Common squid are very fast moving and swim to
catch their prey, passing it to their ‘beak’ to eat it.
After the squid, arrived the
starling! The starling flew onto the boat for a rest. I found an oat cake and
soaked it in water and he pecked at it from my hand. I think this was because
he was so tired and hungry after flying across the sea (we were more than 30
miles from land). He would likely have died if he had landed on the sea, as his
feathers are not adapted to cope with sea water. He stayed with us for a while
and even sang to us! Then, out of nowhere another starling appeared and off our
starling flew with his new friend!
Starling
Have you noticed starlings in the
fields at home? They are an interesting species to watch. They are happy in
farmland and gardens, but have also adapted to town living where you can find
them perched on roofs or telephone wires singing. They have a beautiful
speckled and iridescent plumage that shimmers in the light. During the summer
the adults become particularly glossy looking and gain a yellow beak, whereas
at this time of the year they are less iridescent with a grey beak. Their long,
sharp beak is perfect for pecking at worms, leather jackets and other insects
in lawns. They are very good singers, often copying other birds and sounds such
as car alarms and door bells! They nest in holes such as in oak trees, but in
the city like the holes found in houses. So it’s important not to be too tidy
and block up all the holes in your houses, because starlings, like many other
previously common birds (such as sparrows) are not fairing so well.
In the winter our British starlings
are joined by Scandinavian starlings from Finland, Norway and Sweden. They fly
south for a warmer winter where more food is available to eat. So as you walk
in the countryside you should notice many more starlings flocking together. In
the summer, however, when the northern cousins have left our own starlings
decrease in number.
Back to Lista Light, so once our
starlings had flown away, we were next joined by a chiffchaff that fluttered
aboard for awhile. Chiffchaffs are warblers, a family of birds that feed on
insects and generally visit Britain in the summer and then leave for hotter
countries in the winter when most of our insects have died, are sleeping or
changing form etc. This little bird was probably flying south of the Sahara and
used Lista as a useful break from flying. Chiffchaffs are amongst the first of
our summer bird visitors to return in the Spring and can be recognized by their
distinctive song, ‘chiff, chaff, chiff, chaff’, repeated. They can often be
found in tree tops picking insects off the bark and leaves.
The next visitor was a sky lark! He
called and flapped around the boat, but did not manage to land and flew off. In
Baleeira, Portugal we saw crested skylarks flicking around the tops of the
cliffs. We do not have this species of skylark in the UK, but they are found in
Spain, France, much of Europe and North Africa.
The next spot was a turtle! I have
never seen a turtle before and it was too far away to identify properly, but a
likely candidate was a leatherback turtle. The leatherback turtle is the
world’s largest marine turtle. It spends most of its life in the open sea
feeding on plankton such as jelly fish, returning to the land (Tropics) to
breed. The leatherback turtles have a thick layer of insulating fat under their
skin allowing them to keep warmer than their surroundings, so unlike other
turtles they can roam into colder waters. They have been found near Iceland and
have wondered over 4000 miles!
Little egrets and
fishing boats
After sailing for miles we found a
bustling harbour crammed full of small wooden boats, gulls and little egrets!
The fishermen were landing conger eel, sardines, shark and every kind of fish.
We moored Lista Light by the harbour wall and she looked very fine with all the
other fishing boats.
Arrival of fishing
boats- port hullabaloo
We walked into the town and found
markets full of everything you could ever want to buy, heaps of plastic
containers, mountains of brightly coloured spices, fresh vegetables and fruits,
particularly: clementines, pomegranates, Jerusalem artichokes and stacks of
mint. Goats and cow heads, chickens, turkeys, fish and all kinds of biscuits
and cakes. The people wore a mix of clothing from Western trousers, shirts and
skirts, to traditional Muslim burkas ( a long lose garment covering the whole
body) worn by some of the woman. The most distinctive garment worn by many
woman and men, however, were full length cloaks with a hood. It felt like we
were wondering around with a whole load of magicians!
Traditional dress- the
jalaba
Instead of churches, mosques were
scattered through the town like in many Islamic centres and the towers
(minarets) can be seen in the town skyline. About five times a day a special
man (the muezzin) climbs to the top of the tower and calls the people to
worship. Practicing Muslims will then kneel on their special mat and turn to
Mecca (the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad) to pray.
A few more facts about Morocco and El
Jadida: The currency is Dirhams, the capital city is Rabat. The Atlas mountains
run through the South of the country, with the highest peak, Toubkal, rising to
4167m (the highest mountain in Africa is Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania at
5892m). The old port of El Jadida is a World Heritage site because of the
merging of European and African cultures between the 15th and 17th
centuries. The Green Revolution was celebrated on the day we arrived (6
November) it remembers the same day in 1975 when 3500 Moroccans marched to the
Sahara Desert to reclaim it from the Spanish. The march was peaceful and
successful. Muhammad VI is the current ruling monarch. The main exports of
Morocco are almonds, wax, wool, eggs and sardines.
We plan to stay in El Jadida for at
least a week and explore the surrounding area. Please email me if you have any
questions.
Spotting wading birds
and other coastal birds, El Jadida
AN EMAIL FROM DODDISCOMBSLEIGH PRIMARY SCHOOL, 8.NOVEMBER
2008
Hi,
All sounds great! There are still lots of
starlings back here. What's it like in Morocco and can you tell us more
about the animals and the environment? Did you have any fireworks(or see any
from your boat) on November the 5th? Where are you going next?
Talking of starlings,
Laura has found a book about teaching starlings to sing songs. Here's how
you do it. To teach starlings how to sing songs you need to download a ringtone
on an old mobile and put it in a place where starlings normally sit or near a
starling's nest and with another phone ring the number of the old phone at
regular intervals. The starlings then might begin to sing your song. We
are tracking your position on the map. That is why we want to know you
next .
Great
idea about the starling! They definitely should mimic the song on your phone,
just make sure it's one you enjoy listening to!!
AN EMAIL FROM THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS, MOROCCO, 23 NOVEMBER 2008
We are still in Morocco. Our boat has been moored in the fishing harbour for
over two weeks now. We are using the time to mend her, buy food for our long
voyage ahead and write reports.
We caught a bus, rammed full of people and travelled to the mountains, with our
bikes slung on top of it. The driver hooted all the way for more people to join
us. When we stopped food sellers wondered aboard with bread full of whole eggs,
peanut snacks and sweeties.
We arrived in Marrakech. The main square in the old town was full of food
sellers with: snails, goats heads and cattle's feet. There was also a
kestrel, snake charmers and monkeys! All very odd! We wondered through the souk
(a maze of alley ways full of food, jewellery, shoes, clothes, spices etc).
Camels on the road to the Atlas Mountains!
The next day we cycled out of town and up into the mountains. On the way we saw
and heard cirl buntings!! Can you believe it- I worked to increase their
numbers within the Teign Valley for the RSPB and there they were in Morocco! We
also saw chaffinches, blackbirds, robins and wrens! So it felt like being at
home. Blackcaps (warblers that breed in the UK in the Summer) fly to Southern
Africa in the Winter and we saw them on their passage South, picking off
insects from the scrub.
A bend in the road,
Atlas Mountains
We cycled high up into the Atlas mountains. It was amazing looking back through
the red mountains, crowned with snow to the vast, hot, flat plain below. The
villages were mainly built of baked earth, straw and stones (like our Devon cob
houses). In the valleys there were apple, almond and walnut trees. They were
very green, compared with the stony hills. We camped in an orchard, it was
freezing! In the morning we walked up paths to a village. They all ran to greet
us (they were not on a road and probably do not see tourists very much). We ate
honey, butter and olive oil on flat bread, with mint tea with the villagers
(they are the Berber people).
We did not see any mammals in the mountains except stripy ground squirrels
scurrying across the rocks. We also saw a praying mantis in a park in the
lowlands, in Rabbat, the capital of Morocco.
The snow line, Atlas
Mountains
We will probably first sail to Las Palmas in the Canaries. We are thinking of
leaving on Tuesday as the wind looks good then.
AN EMAIL
FROM La Graciosa, Canary islands December 5 2008
Dear All,
The latest instalment from the Lista
Light travels:
We arrived in the Canary Islands last
Saturday 29 November, after setting sail from El Jadida in Morocco.
We had some great sailing weather
with strong winds, but also very gusty ‘squalls’ (sudden, strong wind and
rain), lightning and no wind at all (when Lista Light just flopped around in
the sea and we moved nowhere). So we experienced just about every type of
weather! Weather is very important to us when we are at sea as it dictates
whether there will be enough wind for us to travel anywhere or whether we need
to sail in a certain direction to avoid dangerous stormy conditions. We are
learning to be weather forecasters by ‘reading’ the sky. Clouds give a big clue
about what the weather will do. For example, huge, towering, cotton-wool clouds
mounding high into the sky are called ‘cumulonimbus. They bring heavy rain and
thundery squalls and can be hazardous to yachts.
Bread at sea
We did not see very much wildlife on
our trip South from Morocco, but a pod of common dolphins did come and join us
a couple of times and swam at the bow (the front) of the boat. We are keeping
all records of dolphin and whale sightings for the Dolphin and Whale
Conservation Society. They are working to protect and conserve these animals
and need to know where they are in the ocean, when they are there, what they
are up to (their behaviour) and where they are going. Our records can help them
piece together this jigsaw of information and help them to ensure that they
have safe places to breed, with plenty of food.
Half way between Morocco and the
Canaries, we noticed that we had a party of black and white stripy fish
following us! I don’t know what species of fish they were, but it appeared that
they were feeding off the algae and seaweed that is growing under Lista! So you
see, we are living aboard our own floating habitat. They followed us all the
way to Graciosa, a little island near to Lanzarote where we are living at the
moment. It is an amazing island, like stepping on to the moon! All around us
are dormant (sleeping ) volcanoes. They are large, pyramid shaped, black hills.
They were formed when movements in the earth’s crust caused ‘magma’ (molten
–liquid, rock material) to gush up from below the earth’s crust. The black
rocks are bubbly like Aero chocolate and are called ‘igneous’ rocks. The rocky
surface of the volcanoes is not very friendly to life (inhospitable) with only
plants that can live in harsh conditions found at the foot of the slopes.
Volcanoes, sand and
birds, Graciosa
There are no roads on the island,
only sand tracks. We are moored in the small fishing harbour, surrounded by
white-washed houses. Beyond us are the sand dunes and volcanoes. The sand dunes
are also inhospitable to life. Only plants that are suited to dry, salty
conditions with very few nutrients survive. Plants have adapted to these harsh
conditions by trapping water in their leaves, growing thick leaves and stems
which stop water from being lost. Plants are often low growing so they do not
dry out and shaped so that they can funnel water into their roots. Gradually
these plants with their special adaptions trap the sand with their roots and
create soil, making the conditions kinder to less specialist plants. Other
plants will then be able to move into the sand dunes and a new ‘community’
(group) of plants can grow.
Sanderlings
There are some wonderful birds here!
I have seen hoopoes, large tiger-coloured birds with showy crests (hats) on
their heads, also the great grey shrike. Shrikes are also called ‘Butcher Birds’
this is because they have a nasty habit of catching insects and spiking them on
a thorn bush or strand of barbed wire to eat later! There was a rare bird
called the Houbara bustard on the island in the 1990s but I’m not sure if it
has been seen since. I cannot find it! It is large, almost turkey size and
looks a bit like an over grown pheasant. Houbara bustards are also found in
Fuerteventura where there is a special reserve to conserve them, so I hope to
find them there if not here. The Canary Islands are very important for their
birds, Canaries really do live on them and I hope to see one! The islands are
important for birds because they have been separated from the mainland (Africa)
for a long time. This has allowed birds to evolve (change from the original
bird) over hundreds of years so that new species of birds have formed and are
found nowhere else in the world. Such birds include: the white-tailed laurel
pigeon, the dark-tailed laurel pigeon and the Canary Island chaffinch. In this
way, the islands are, therefore, a bit like the Galapagos Islands.
We are mending Lista still (she is
after all over 70 years old) and needs lots of care! We will leave Graciosa in
the next couple of days and sail down the chain of islands until about 15
December when we shall sail off into the Atlantic! It should be a very odd
Christmas and New Year in the middle of the deep blue sea!
I hope you are all well. All the best
and I hope you have a GREAT CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR!!!
Katharine
AN EMAIL- ARRIVING IN THE CARIBBEAN AFTER CROSSING THE ATLANTIC, JANUARY
22 2009
Hello!!
Happy New Year! Hope you are all well
and had a wonderful Christmas holiday?
We are still alive...
Well, by the skin of our teeth! One
night, in the middle of the Atlantic our main mast broke, snapping in two so
that the sail and mast fell into the water. It was very scary. We were worried
that the mast might puncture a hole in
Lista Light's sides. We cut the sail, broken mast and wires free and then
readied our emergency bags and life raft. Finally they drifted to the bottom of
the ocean and we limped onwards.
Choppy sea and a
rainbow
Luckily our boat has two masts (it is a ketch) so we were able to fly one sail
on the back mast. The next days were spent creating new back stays and ‘rigging’
(the supports that hold up the mast and sail) for what was left of the main
mast. We managed to cobble together a new sail and onwards we sailed!
Incredible cloud patterns and shapes
Otherwise, it has been a wonderful and strange experience:
Our world was made up of the ever changing sky and its clouds, stars and moon
and the sea. We only saw one other yacht in the distance, a Russian who was
sailing to Africa. Otherwise we were completely alone.
In the middle of
nowhere on the Atlantic
That is apart from.....
Lots of storm petrels- little birds that spend most of their life at sea
feeding on small fish and plankton. (You can see storm petrels, the size of
swallows in the sea around Britain). Also white-tailed tropic birds,
spectacular showy birds with long streamer tails that we will be surveying in
the Caribbean. Also Atlantic spotted dolphins, common dolphins, pilot whales
and .... a minke whale that followed us for four days!!! We kept seeing it
surfing a wave behind the boat and then swimming around the boat, blowing water
out of its air hole and gliding through the waves. On the last day we saw it
continually throughout the day and then it disappeared! You can also see Minke
whales in our British waters, particularly Scotland and Ireland.
Christmas on the
Atlantic
We did not sail to the Cape Verde islands in the end, deciding to cross the
Atlantic directly from Canary Islands. We took nearly 30 days to cross this
huge expanse of water!
The wind stopped
blowing for 5 days, so Lista bobbed and we swam!
We have sailed to the little island at the north of the Lesser Antilles called,
Sint Maarten. One side of it is owned by the French (St Martin), the other by
the Dutch, where we are. This is where the Caribbean conservation organisation
called EPIC (Environmental Protection In the Caribbean) who we will be working
for are based.
Male magnificent
frigate bird
Most of the islands in the Caribbean have lost much of their natural habitat and
wildlife. The birds have suffered greatly. Seven thousand years ago when man
first came to the islands birds were harvested and eaten as they provided a
good source of protein. This continued during the European colonization which
began over 500 years ago. Sea birds were easy targets as many of them are not
suited to walking on land as they spend most of their lives at sea. Many sit on
their nests for a very long time warming their eggs and feeding their chicks.
They nest in big colonies which also meant that people could catch lots of
birds quickly. Some birds such as the petrels are attracted to lights, so they
lit bonfires which the birds flew into. The settlers also brought pets such as
cats and dogs that ate the birds. They introduced rats that ate the eggs and
chicks of the birds and then Indian Mongeese, because they thought they might
eat the rats. Unfortunately, the mongeese preferred eating the native sea birds
and lizards which were much easier to catch. Goats and pigs were let loose on
the islands and ate all the new tree seedlings so that woods and mangroves
could not grow up, trampled nests and caused soil to wash into the sea. People
chopped down most of the native woodland and bush, planting coconuts and sugar
so that the native wildlife did not have anywhere to live.
White-tailed tropic
bird
So the poor birds and other wildlife faced many problems and their numbers went
down. Then in the 20th Century, people started holidaying in the islands and
more and more people wanted to live on them. Lots of houses and hotels were
built particularly around the coastline where the sea birds nested. So now the
sea birds are under even more pressure from loss of habitat, pollution,
over-fishing etc. and many have had to move to the last remaining little
islands to nest where people and the introduced animals are not.
Cruise ships, often up
to five in a day, pile into the Sint Maartens
This is where we come in! Our job is to sail to islands in the Lesser Antilles
such as Barbuda and the Grenadines and find sea bird colonies. We then have to
count the number of nests, chicks and eggs in them and write a report on how
many sea birds there are and how they are doing. We have to look for signs of
predators such as rats and cats and note whether the birds are being disturbed
by people. We will then speak to local people such as fisherman and see whether
they know of other sea bird colonies. We will also talk to people about our
work and see whether they are interested in helping the sea birds and other wildlife.
I will be adding the wildlife and cetacean (dolphin and whale) records to the
green pages of the website, also your emails and a new chapter called Ecology:
from flying fish, to Darwin to Birds in the Education section. (Oh and I did a
short video in the middle of Atlantic which should pop up soon!)
I would love to hear your news. Please send me any questions or thoughts and
have fun!
Very best wishes, Katharine