It’s the end of the 3 months radio-tracking and I can’t believe the time has gone by so fast and its time to head home!
The last two weeks have been really hectic and so seemed to pass much faster. We supported ‘Save the Frogs Day’ an event organised for an American charity to help raise awareness of frogs, also an opportunity to then help highlight the work of the project on island. We prepared an educational display about frogs to put up in the island’s library, there was a live radio interview with the whole team, and we delivered a presentation about amphibian conservation at the National Trust to introduce Montserrat to other amphibians other than the mountain chicken.
The batteries in the release frogs are finally on their last legs. Frog 958, is the winner, the last working transmitter. We’ve had a lot of rain and the frogs have spread out away from the ghaut, the ghaut was actually flooded we had so much rain. We have to rely on visual encounters now, difficult when the frogs are in the forest, easier when they are in the ghaut. Though its wet season and therefore breeding season, males are calling, meaning we can find the males when they are away from the ghaut.
We managed a few surviving frog surveys this week, Fairy Walk was amazing, the first time I went there was in the first week, where we found a wonderful female. The second and last time we came across a male there, lovely, so there are definitely males and females at the same sites. Jenny and I are heading home leaving Sarah, Blacka & Lloydie (when he gets back from his course at Durrell, Jersey) to continue the surveys keeping their eyes open for baby frogs (all fingers crossed) and new frogs.
Fingers crossed for the team we’re leaving behind in Montserrat, keep up the good work.