Ascension : Ascension Island Conservation Department
Submitted by The Islander (Conservation Office) 21.02.2013 (Article Archived on 07.03.2013)
Following on from Dr Sam and Nicola Weber’s article last week,
Ascension Island Conservation Department
Contributed by Natasha Williams
It has been a few busy months to the start of the year.
Marcella Corcoran with the conservation team
Following on from Dr Sam and Nicola Weber’s article last week, we have had many visitors to Conservation, in on the Darwin Project training with plants of Ascension. We had visitors from our fellow South Atlantic UK Overseas Territories -Vanessa Thomas from St Helena, and Cynthia Williams from the Falkland Islands. It was a great experience working with you both and exchanging ideas and thoughts on the work with Plants. We would like to say a BIG thank you to our trainer Marcella Corcoran from Royal Botanical Gardens Kew and helping us to care for our plants and showing different planting techniques. It was a great pleasure having you all here on Ascension.
We would also like to Thank Youth trainee Tyler Benjamin who has been working with us over the past 6months and assisting us with all aspects of Conservation, assisting with the Turtle monitoring, the RSPB Seabird Monitoring and Plants. We wish you all the best Tyler on your future employments and great having you as part of the team. - Happy Days!
The team has also been assisting with turtle tours from the RAF flights and the Quest for Adventure cruise vessel. We had Commodore Russell La Forte (Commander-designate, British Forces Falklands), Dr Susan Atkins NAAFI executives. Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Delegation a former cabinet minister, other elected politicians, visiting for a few hours to see the turtles, thank you Drs Sam and Nicola Weber, Administrator Mr Colin Wells and Wing Commander Mark Taylor for assisting with the turtle tours which indeed was enjoyed by all.
The Quest for Adventure vessel arrived on the 28th January and along with IDL and Obsidian and AIG we accommodate many of the visitors with an island tour to see the overall of Ascension, to see the birds at Mars Bay and the Green Mountain National Park. Thank you to all who helped us on the day. Thank you to Kitty George and Toni Bendall (Shipping Office), Thank you to Marcella Corcoran for assisting the conservation team. Thank you to Dr Sam and Nicola Weber, Director of Resources Hamish Stewart and Conservation Officer Stedson Stroud on the vessel with talk and selling of goods. Thank you to Heritage the Post Office and Solomon’s and other businesses. On tours day like these we all pull together to show of our wonderful island.
There we have it and over the next couple of months we will be working with many of our overseas territories partners and clients on many of our Projects and bio diversity of Ascension Island.
We would like to welcome back Dr Annette and Brendan from the University of Exeter, who will assisting with the Darwin Project and turtle monitoring at Conservation.
Thank you to Clay Brogdon, Adrian Bowers, Paul Goodwin and Andrea Shaw for assisting with stranded green turtle on English Bay on 13th February that made it safely back to the sea.
Please be advised that due to on-going field work the Conservation Office will open from 7.30am -10am on week days. We open on Saturdays, 10am-12noon, and signs will be posted on the door when the office is closed. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
Volunteers welcome. Please contact Natasha Williams or Jolene Sim. Ascension Island Conservation Department. Georgetown. Tel: 6359. Email: natasha.williams@ascension.gov.ac or jolene.sim@ascension.gov.ac
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