The first release of captive-bred mountain chickens back into the wild.
Today was a very special day. At about 2pm we all headed to the holding facility and began the task of getting a group of 17 frogs ready for release. Javier removed the stitches from each in turn, we took pre-release biometric data, checked the frequency and strength of...
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Catching the mountain chickens to swab them is not as easy as it sounds; finding them for one, even with the radio transmitters it isn’t always a given that the frogs are moving more and further distances we have our work cut out for...
Having had a few nights of peace and quiet in the temporary ponds, it was time to release the first half of the captive-bred mountain chickens into their new home. The team mobilised to get the chosen frogs ready for release. They needed to be identified, swabbed and have the transmitters checked for the radio tracking before being placed...
Local knowledge of the forest is key to us being able to work efficiently and constructivelyon Montserrat.
The Montserrat Department of Environment’s Forestry team helped us a lot when we were building the temporary ponds to house the frogs when they arrived on island, and now, they are helping us to find them again in the forest. As local men...
Today was a day of following ghaut (excuse the pun) feelings. We were exploring new areas of our release site ghaut to try and find the frog utopia we’re sure must exist, to explain why we can’t find certain frogs on our normal searches in the main release site area.
The release sites are all positioned on the main Sweetwater...
Pond construction - update 2
Having scrubbed the pond liners clean the next stage was to actually fix them to the wooden frames. This was a big job and it took us a little time to work out the best method of actually doing it. We did one prototype pond and decided that simply attaching the liner to the frame...
...you think the streetlights of Lookout look like the GPS map of search points
...you think the tree frogs outside the bedroom window sound like a radio transmittor signal.
...feel like you forgot to put on pants if you leave the house after 6.30 and don't have a head torch.
...take lounging on the beach on a wednesday for granted, but feel...
After a few weeks trying to organize the event, it finally happened!!! Last Saturday the Mountain Chicken team went to the forest. That is no news, I know. But this time there was a different reason to go: a fantastic, tasty and delicious meal…
The first step was to choose the location to set up the kitchen (oh, yes, everything...
We are now into our third and last month of radio-tracking so it comes to no surprise that we are starting to see failed transmitters. Batteries are starting to run out and frogs are free to hop off into the sunset. Of course the team will continue for the next month to radio-track those that are still beeping and...
Today was the first day of the Mountain Chicken Recovery Plan Workshop run by the Darwin Initiative Mountain Chicken Project in Montserrat. The project is now in the third and final year and we committed as part of the project proposal to developing a long-term restoration strategy for the species based on pulling together the results of everything we...