Category Archives: weather notes

Students on the Island

Posted on by

Weather

Windy day above 20 knots from West on Wednesday and Friday but the rest of the time light wind and calm sea, overcast to rainy mainly grey days

Ecological

The geese at least 3 couples and the oyster catchers (3 couples too) are already going by 2.Chunk is not back and the 3 elephant Seals:Boss,the younger male and the last pup are around.The pigeons guillemots (around 30 )have been seen again but not even one when we did the census…The population situation is very different from one day to the other

Work with students

The plan was to make them paint the desalinisaton house but there was too much moisture  and we have to let it dry before any painting job . So they helped us with the wood : stalking and splitting and  cleaning around the jetty. Guy explained them all the systems involved on Race Rocks( electricity stockage,desalinisation…) and I did the census 2 times in 2 groups. We can tell that during their stay we didn’t use so much water Thanks to them ;they really understood the challenge of the place! One of them  had a look at our emergency supply.

Maintenance

End of the month reports. Jetty cleaning with the high pressure washer

Vessels and flights

2,3 watching boats at the most, a Canadian Frigate coming back towards Esquilmalt, a big fishing boat heading to the ocean and an helicopter closed

DSC_0378DSC_0391DSC_0436

 

 

 

 

Census day

Posted on by

Weather

Calm day with a west wind 5 knots,overcast,cold:2.1 degrees Celsius. The wind picked up in the evening and reached 40 knots around midnight.

Ecological 

We put back to the sea the dead pup. Guy used the crane . One student help,ready to cut the line ( It was not necessary)and the others watchedDSC_0310DSC_0287DSC_0290DSC_0294DSC_0307It is amazing to see how big in only one month this elephant seal pup became!

Census

The census was done with the students

Gulls:134

Harbour seals:37

Steller’s Sea lions : 21

Californian Sea lions:92

Cormorants: 64

geese:5

Elephant seals:3 – 1 adult male , 1 pup , another one on Middle island but which one ?

Oystercatchers :6

Harlequin Ducks :24

Black Turnstones:10

Pigeons -Guillemot:0

Eagles :4

Maintenance

200 liters of oil transferred in the eco guardians house

Vessels

2 Canadian navy boats no 706 and 710 making their way slowly towards Esquimalt at 6:00PM

Other

Guy made a tour with some students and explain all the process for the stockage of energy and desalination of the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beecher Bay Chief’s visit and Students on the rocks for Spring break

Posted on by

Weather

North East light wind,10 knots at 8:00 AM.calm and overcast. In the afternoon we got some flurries and a some light snow…and fog came from vancouver Island but became dispersed quickly …just enough to have the fog horn on.

Visitors 

Kyle brought the chief of our local First Nation People. He had a meeting with some College Directors and earlier in the morning 5 Students with a volunteer came to stay on the rock for a week: So now 8 countries ( We have 2 nationalities)  are represented in our little world :Canada,China,Finland,France,Israel,Italy,Germany,Japan.

 

DSC_0171DSC_0284DSC_0317DSC_0319

 

The pup died

Posted on by

Weather

At 8:00 28 knots from North East. White crest and choppy. Visibility 10 miles.  Temperature :3.8 d. Celsius.It has been windy to the end of the afternoon :35 knots at noon.

Ecological

The pup was still alive around 9AM . He had managed to move just a little bit but later when we came to have a look he was already dead and the birds were already on it.Short life ,actually 1month and 10 days.(This is pretty common and  the mortality is very high with the newborn Northern Elephant seals.) The second one was still sleeping closed to the tower and Chunk was gone. Just the the two pacific other males were there. The geese had been very noisy those last days and it looked like they were preparing for mating. Flowers are everywhere…Spring.

Vessels and plane

We saw 3 watching boats and this was surprising if you consider the wind and sea around Race Rocks yesterday. A plane was above going towards Sooke.Many sail boat around Victoria and we could observe for a long time Amatuana leaving for Spring break.

adventurous pups

Posted on by

Weather

In the morning we had a light south wind an overcast sky and a good visibility but the wind get stronger in the afternoon and changed its direction to South West with a gust around 28 knots. The air temperature was 4.3 degrees Celsius so cold and grey day with some rain

Ecological

Our main concern is still the pups . They became again adventurous and changed locations: the one under our kitchen window decided to go closed to the tower followed by the young male . He just smelled the baby it was it . The injured one decided to moved towards the rocks and he went pretty far and it looks like  now he is stuck …So…We will see Tomorrow . Maybe he was attracted by the water and the high enough tide will be only Tomorrow afternoon …the question is to know if he will be strong enough to move his body and get out… Chunk didn’t come back

DSC_0102DSC_0103

Maintenance 

We finished preparing the students house. they will come for a week on Sunday or Monday depending the weather. actually we cleaned and washed the basement floor and carpets . So it is ready

Vessels 

3 watching boats

 

Chunk attacked a pup

Posted on by

Weather

Beautiful day calm,13 knots at 8:00, Overcast to sunny,Visibility at 8:00 13 miles and air temperature :6 degrees.

Ecological

It has been pretty dramatic when in the morning Chunk decided to attacked one of the puppy,the biggest one .For the first time this one was active and moving and shouting on the lawn down the main house. So pictures speak better than words . Here they are:DSC_0574Chunk was trying to suffocate  the pup putting his weight on himDSC_0575DSC_0586after he bit him and had the whole head in his mouthDSC_0585DSC_0603The other adult male arrived and made chunk go DSC_0613DSC_0620DSC_0633DSC_0647half an hour later Boss went to see the pup  but this one was afraid so he left him alone. After for the rest of the day Chunk went closed to the student house,Boss stayed closed to the main house looking towards where chunk was  and the pup was closed to the crank. He can move so nothing looked broken but the injury is pretty deep.  For a lighter note look at the other pup . He found a spot where the big ones cannot go closed to the compost in the grassDSC_0246

I could take all those pictures because when all this happened I was already outside and I had my camera with me.

A sea lion on the grass

Posted on by

Weather

At 8:00 light North West wind,Overcast sky,13 miles of visibility.The wind became full West later and raised steadily to 30 knots in the afternoon and evening.

Ecological

Chunk was back but Boss gone …The pups were moving more . (The other young male elephant seal is always around and can often be seen in the water) . Many birds now and are getting busier and noisier:pigeons guillemots ,crows,oystercatchers by pairs now,geese ,Harlequins ducks,Eagles in the morning,some shorebirds…a lot of life! In the afternoon we were surprised to see in middle of the lawn under our windows a young californian Sea lion : a branded one (940C) He had something hanging from his neck maybe a small hook and a line. We never saw a lonely Sea lion before  far from the rocks and alone? strange he looked tired?DSC_0317DSC_0624DSC_0645

Boats

it is pretty calm on the waters …we saw a few fishing boats .It is the beginning of the halibut fishing season

Visitors

Posted on by

Weather

On Monday no wind at all 4knots only at 13:00 North East wind,overcast the whole day

Ecological

Chunk gone

Visitors

Kyle came for the preparation of the students stay next week. He was with 3 volunteers from the college. One of them was Leonie from Germany who has been working at the college for a while . She will be the adult residing with the students next week .

Gulls getting ready

Posted on by

Weather

Quiet day: 5Knots ,south East wind,calm overcast with some rain,Visibility over 13 miles at 8:00. Exceptional sunset last evening

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Ecological

For the first time when we woke up we had the surprise to discovered all over the island gulls ,on 1 meter a part spots,a little bit like in July …I guess it is usual at this time of the year … Anyway all the birds are pretty active and in the morning especially. Pigeons -guillemots (50 to 80 of them closed to the jetty), eagles (8 to 10) and around 12 oystercatchers have been seen lately.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Boats

2 US military boats,a 40 feet sailboat coming back early in the morning toward Victoria (he left the day before)and the visit of a zodiac wanted to land on main rock..he left right away.

A surprise: helicopter on the rock

Posted on by

From the 15th to the 17th

Weather

Those last 3 days the weather was calm ,wind from Eastern and an overcast and grey sky with some very light rain.We never had the forecast gail and pouring rain that had been announced.Slowly the air temperature get higher between 6.5 and 9 degrees and the water temperature around 7.

Ecological

Most of the time we counted the same 5 Elephant Seals . they got along pretty well now and could be seen almost every where ,even closed to the tower or in the middle of the rocks. Only the younger spent regularly in the water and I guess went fishing. The 2 pups has been quiet ; one more active than the other (the bigger one ) and the other one who was for a few days away ,never left again. Many geese between 12 and 14 and eagles steady around

Maintenance

The water sampling house is now cleaned, inside too and all around the jetty …We try to get the rocks rid of wood and brought  logs and branches to the crane area to be cut later.The East wind brought so much wood that our work is far from finished

Other

Almost no traffic on the water …just one or two watchers. On friday around 10:30 I decided to go on the the top of the tower mainly for exercise..and as I was half way I heard a big engine..I understood that it was an helicopter but I realized how closed it was . I rushed to the top and discovered the culprit on the launching platform…It was the Coast guards  coming to do their annual check up.  2 engineers verified all the systems : They were supposed to come earlier this week but the weather was not good enough.They stayed 11/2hour and were gone. They explained that first they wanted to land like usual closed to the tower but an elephant seal was on the spot so they had to go around and back and DSC_0048that explained why the noise inside the lighthouse was so strong! It made my day!DSC_0047DSC_0051