It is undeniable that one of the most picturesque places on the Isle of Man is the view from the Sound of the Calf of Man at the southern tip of the island.

The Calf is owned by Manx National Heritage and is of international importance to wildlife.

The bird observatory based there houses a team of Manx Wildlife Trust (MWT) wardens and volunteers who run a number of projects to record and monitor a range of native wildlife.

I spoke to Dr Lara Howe, marine officer at MWT, about the work the conservation charity do on the island and the gains that have been made as another season comes to a close.

Only the wardens actually stay on the island between March and November, while people like Lara co-ordinate activities from the main island.

There were four wardens on the Calf this season, bird warden Aron Sapsford, estate warden Daniel Woollard, assistant estate warden Robert Fisher and volunteer assistant warden Mollie Kirk.

Their duties are vast and varied as Lara explained: ’There are 26 observatories around the UK [and] we’re one of those.

’Basically, we monitor the birds moving through during migration and also breeding.

’There will be daily observations of the number of birds passing through and seen on the Calf, and they’ll also ring birds as well if the conditions are appropriate to do so.

’Then during the breeding season, obviously they’ll be monitoring that, particularly the seabirds and, very importantly, the Manx shearwater as well.’

A medium-sized black and white bird, the Manx shearwater has long, stiff wings and is about the size of a small gull. They are black above and white underneath.

Manx shearwaters fly for thousands of miles to return to the same burrow every year, and raise only one extremely fluffy chick a year.

In the Birds of Conservation Concern in the Isle of Man (BoCC-IoM) list published earlier this year, they are listed as ’amber’.

Monitoring this species is a big part of the work the wardens do on the island every year.

’Then on the estate side of things, it’s as it sounds,’ Lara continued.

’Some of it’s quite obvious in terms of it’s maintaining the facilities on site, making sure the ditches are clear and things like that, but it’s also the biological records.

’There will be [things like] moss surveys, and obviously a lot of work goes into monitoring what were the bait points for the long tail eradication.

’We now use wax blocks to just monitor, and that has to be done every month.

’We’ve got a series of camera traps that are out as well so those have to be checked.’

There has been an ongoing programme to eradicate the long tails on the Calf, as they were threatening the bird species there.

So how is that going?

Lara said: ’Obviously the monitoring will always be ongoing anyway, it’s something that we have to maintain so we can say one way or the other.

’We’ve definitely managed to reduce the numbers significantly, but to say the programme has been successful you have to be two years clear of any sightings, and we get to about 18 months or a year in and one appears.

’So we had one a little while ago that was seen on one of the camera traps, but we caught it and disposed of it and the clock starts again!’

To be consistently nearly clear must be irritating, I put to Dr Howe.

’Yes, but the nice thing with it is the fact that we’re seeing increased numbers in Manx shearwaters in breeding pairs,’ she said.

’So although we might not have eradicated the long tails entirely, we’ve definitely reduced the numbers enough that it’s causing a very positive effect for our Manx shearwaters and probably other ground nesting birds as well.’

Earlier this season, the first photographed sighting of puffins on the Calf of Man for over two decades was recorded.

’It’s really, really positive to see them obviously having nesting material,’ Lara explained.

’Sadly, we don’t think they actually managed to produce a chick this year.

’But it’s the first signs that they’re coming back and they’re attempting to nest on the Calf so we are really excited by that.

’Fingers crossed for next year and hopefully we’ll have some little pufflings soon.’

The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) shared a report this week explaining how climate change is already affecting the UK’s birds.

Its findings are stark: nine in 10 of the puffin population across Britain and Ireland may be gone in less than 30 years, with a population decline of 89% projected by 2050.

Is that a concern, especially considering the fact that they have only recently been seen back on the Calf?

’Absolutely, and not just puffins, all our seabirds really. Manx BirdLife have obviously produced their report of birds of conservation concern and there’s a lot of seabirds on that list,’ Dr Howe replied.

’One of things that they think is linked with climate change is that the sand eels that they feed on will move further north as temperatures warm which means the puffins have to forage further north for food and feed their chicks.

’They tend to have a fairly fixed range anyway of how far they will travel, so if the sand eels aren’t in that range of travelling and where they’re nesting, then they won’t be able to find the sand eels and they’ll bring in other sources of food in that aren’t quite as calorific or as suitable for the chicks to feed on.

’That’s a problem definitely going forward.’

l Next Thursday, November 18, the Manx Wildlife Trust is hosting a talk entitled ’Work on the Calf’ at Ramsey Town Hall.

Dr Howe and Calf of Man ornithological warden, Aron Sapsford, will enlighten the audience about the work that goes on behind the scenes and the records they keep.

Lara will be focusing her part of the talk on puffins and seals and Aron will be focusing on the Calf of Man observatory.

It is their first blended event so you can either go to Ramsey and listen in person or Zoom in and listen from home.

Tickets cost a minimum donation of £1, and can be bought here: https://buff.ly/3ofOOjS