Above picture: The latest members of the Mouse-Free Marion Cycling team, Michelle Risi and Chris Jones, are training hard on Gough Island
Michelle Risi and Chris Jones are long-term supporters of the Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project. They have recently commenced their sixth overwintering year as a husband and wife team on a sub-Antarctic island; this time working for the UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds on Gough, only a few months after returning from their second year on Marion Island.
Leaving for Gough Island. Michelle Risi and Chris Jones aboard the S.A. Agulhas II on 05 September 2024
The newly established Mouse-Free Marion Cycling team reached out to Michelle and Chris to ask them (tongue in cheek) what it is like to ride a bike on a heavily vegetated and rugged island with no roads and only a few muddy paths, most of them very steep, with hidden holes dug by burrowing petrels. Not to mention the gale-force winds, sometimes freezing temperatures and driving rain. Their reply has gone further than just saying “don’t be silly”. They got out the meteorological base’s two (rather basic) exercise bikes from its small gym, placed them on a catwalk (for stability) and demonstrated what it would really be like to cycle Gough. And all, of course, dressed for field work in warm and water-proof clothing and kitted out with rubber boots, binoculars and walkie talkies.
Bird-watching from the bike? Michelle and Chris hold their hand-drawn sign in support of the Mouse-Free Marion Project
They write: “While it is near impossible to ride a bicycle on Gough Island, we are fully behind the Mouse-Free Marion Cycling team in spirit and are cheering them on from the middle of the South Atlantic. Marion holds a special place in our hearts, and we hope this initiative gets the MFM Project closer to its fund-raising goal, for what we believe to be one of the most important island restoration projects planned to go ahead in the coming years.”
Chris and Michelle have now issued a challenge to the seabird researchers currently on Marion Island to “Pedal for Petrels” (and albatrosses) by getting themselves photographed on their gym bikes. The next step will be to approach colleagues on Australian, French and the United Kingdom’s sub-Antarctic islands to do likewise!
Mouse-Free Marion Cycling welcomes its two new members in the South Atlantic and wishes them well as they continue conducting the important research required to inform a second attempt to eradicate Gough Island’s albatross-killing alien House Mice.
With thanks to Antje Steinfurth and Sophie Thomas, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
John Cooper, News Correspondent, Mouse-Free Marion Project, 31 October 2024
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Male (left) and female Tristan Albatrosses engage in a mutual display on Gough Island; photograph by Michelle Risi
The Mouse-Free Marion Project is a registered non-profit company (No. 2020/922433/08) in South Africa, established to eradicate the invasive albatross-killing mice on Marion Island in the Southern Ocean. The project was initiated by BirdLife South Africa and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. Upon successful completion, the project will restore the critical breeding habitat of over two million seabirds, many globally threatened, and improve the island’s resilience to a warming climate. For more information or to support the project please visit mousefreemarion.org.
