Above picture: Neil Gartshore rests on a hilltop during a hike on Marion Island

In the 1980s I was an Antarctic Officer within the South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP), based at the University of Cape Town’s FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology.  My main role was to “home manage” ornithological research projects at Marion Island.  One of these, that studied the feeding ecology of the island’s avian predator/scavenger guild, was led by ex-British Antarctic Survey scientist, Stephen Hunter.  Steve was supported in the field by successive research assistants, one of whom was Neil Gartshore from the United Kingdom.  Neil has never forgotten his year on Marion.  Indeed, his long-term interest in the island has led him to support the Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project by generously sponsoring 15 hectares towards the eradication of the introduced House Mice that are killing so many of Marion’s albatrosses and petrels.

Since his Marion year, Neil worked for many years as a Reserve Warden with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).  He now runs Calluna Books that deals in out-of-print and second-hand natural history books.  Especially requested for MFM News, he reminisces about his time on Marion Island in the late 1980s.

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“Our lives are made up of many experiences which become the memories that we carry with us.  For me, my memories of the time I spent on Marion Island in 1986/87 are as vivid today as the experiences were nearly 40 years ago.  On 15 April 1986, the Marion 43rd Overwintering Team boarded the S.A. Agulhas in Cape Town and headed south.  Around mid-day on the 19th we sighted the north coast of Marion through the low cloud and squally rain showers shrouding the island.  I was to spend 13 months on Marion, employed as a field assistant by the FitzPatrick Institute to assist Dr Steve Hunter, primarily collecting data on Northern and Southern Giant Petrels and on Brown or Sub-Antarctic Skuas on the island.

It’s hard to pick out my ‘best’ memories of Marion, there were so many, but it was the birdlife that had taken me there.  I started birdwatching as a youngster and by my early 20s had lived on the Shetland Islands before working as a warden on the UK’s Farne Islands off Northumberland where seabirds became a part of my daily life.  When the opportunity came along to work on a sub-Antarctic island it was a no-brainer.  Although Marion only holds about 30 breeding species of birds there was quality over quantity – the magnificent Wandering Albatross, the large penguin colonies, a variety of petrels/prions … and not to forget the two giant petrel species, which soon became firm favourites.  These special seabirds were occasionally supplemented by non-breeding species and ‘vagrants’ which included three species of waders, a number of Cattle Egrets, a Lesser Black-backed Gull and even a Mountain Chat!  1986/87 was a vintage year for unusual sightings.

One of my study sites. The huge Macaroni (at back on the slope) and King Penguin colonies at Kildalkey Bay

During the winter, my work programme included dawn-to-dusk watches observing giant petrel activity in King Penguin colonies – no two watches were ever the same. Apart from recording general activities, individual birds were also observed in depth.  When a selected bird came into the study area, its behaviour was recorded until it left the area.  I recall one observation at Kildalkey Bay.  Within a minute or two of starting the clock, the bird had sat down and gone to sleep – for nearly four hours!  It was fascinating, and gruesome at times, to watch the ‘vultures’ of the seabird world going about their bloody business.  On another occasion, at Archway Bay, I was sidetracked as I watched a handful of ‘woolly’ King Penguin chicks climb onto the back of a sleeping Southern Elephant Seal bull, jumping off as the seal stirred – they were obviously enjoying their playtime.

A Salvin’s Prion on Marion – we studied its diet as a “side project”

Joined by Steve in the summer, we spent many days out in the field.  Island counts of breeding giant petrels were undertaken; birds were caught, measured and banded; and food samples were taken.  Once fed, a chick was upended and with a gentle rub of the stomach the regurgitated contents were collected in a bucket.  An island count of the Brown Skuas was also undertaken; and once breeding began, a regular sweep was made of a number of marked territories to collect and record prey items from their middens.  Although these three species were the focus of our work, counts and banding of several other species were also carried out.

Posing next to the Annexation Flagpole in front of the cave at Cave Bay, Prince Edward Island, 01 September 1986

Two visits to nearby (and mouse-free) Prince Edward Island were definitely the ‘icing on the cake’, to be able to go where very few have ever gone before and to experience a near-pristine island largely untouched by humans was unforgettable.  My first visit (in September 1986) lasted just 1.5 hours while the field hut above Cave Bay was being dismantled and removed for deployment on Marion Island.  I thought that this was going to be it as visits to Prince Edward were being cut to a minimum but, in April 1987, I was lucky to go again – this time with a programme of bird work to complete.  The planned three-night stay turned into five nights as mist and rain grounded the helicopter.  The most vivid memory of this visit was how the ground came alive at night with the deafening sounds of burrowing petrels.  The cat- and mouse-free status of Prince Edward showed what Marion could, and should, be like.

The huge Marion Island 43rd Oversummering Team. Neil Gartshore is on the left in the second row from the top

1986/87 was the first year of the feral cat eradication programme.  From a winter team of nine to a summer team of 31, the island was a little more crowded.  This was the start of a major conservation initiative, where an introduced species was removed in what was then the world’s largest cat eradication and showed what can be done when the will (and funding) are available. Mice preying on the island’s albatrosses and petrels was not something I witnessed.

When I heard that the MFM Project was raising funds to remove mice from Marion, I was pleased to be able to contribute to the ‘sponsor map’ and would urge all ex-Marion team members to do the same.  Wherever our lives have taken us since our Marion days we now have an opportunity to put a little back to help re-balance another negative effect of humanity’s influence on this wonderful island ecosystem.”

Neil Gartshore, Northumberland, United Kingdom

Publications:

 

Gartshore, N.A. 1987.  Rare bird sightings at the Prince Edward Islands, December 1983 – May 1987.  Cormorant 15: 48-58.

Gartshore, N.A., Cooper, J. & Hunter, S. 1988.  Bird ringing at Marion and Prince Edward Islands, 1982-1987; with an analysis of movements since 1951.  South African Journal of Antarctic Research 18: 23-29.

Gartshore, N.A., Steele, W.K. & Klages, N.T. 1988.  Summer diet of the Salvin’s prion at sub-Antarctic Marion Island.  South African Journal of Zoology 23: 309-313.

 

John Cooper, News Correspondent, Mouse-Free Marion Project, 18 July 2024

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A Northern Giant Petrel broods its chick on Marion Island; photograph by Janine Schoombie and poster design 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.