Saving Paradise

Category: Nature Seychelles | Date: Oct 28 2009 | By: savingparadise

This week we had the privilege of the brief company of two seabirds at our office - a wedge-tailed Shearwater, Fouke in Creole, and Wilson’s storm petrel. Both Birds had been found and rescued by members of the public.

The storm petrel before its release

The Wilson’s storm petrel was found by a fishing boat around Denis Island and was brought in to us on the afternoon of Friday 23 by Captain J P Grancourt. Upon identifying the tiny bird as Wilson’s storm petrel,  we sent out an email to the bird committee to ask for advice on its feeding and release. It had no apparent injury and seemed to be just stressed, so it was put in a box to rest. It was fed, although with some difficulty as its beak is very tiny. Petrels feed on tiny shrimps, small squids, very small fish and planktonic crustaceans. We heard back from Adrian Skerret of the Bird Committee who advised its immediate release because of the difficulties in feeding. He also said that very few records exist in Seychelles of Wilson’s storm petrel; it has only once been photographed in Seychelles. On Saturday morning the bird was released on Mahe.

The shearwater brought to our office. Inset: shearwater nesting on Cousin

The shearwater was found at Pointe Larue near the agro-processing plant. Wedge tailed shearwaters are found on rat free islands in the Seychelles such as Cousin, Cousine, and Aride where they burrow on the ground to nest. Adults leave their burrows before dawn to fly out to feeding grounds at sea  and return in the cover of darkness. They are rarely found on Mahe. The Shearwater was confused but otherwise healthy with no injuries. It is being fed and will be released in a coastal area later today.

Wedge tailed shearwaters are also known as the moaning bird because of the eerie calls they make. In the past the call was associated with ghosts. They are even said to have caused a warden on Cousin to leave the island in haste! Listen to it here and tell us what you think.

Tags: Cousin Island, Mahe, wedge tailed shearwater, wilson's storm petrel

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Category: Nature Seychelles, birds | Date: Sep 09 2009 | By: savingparadise

MISTNET  (the Indian Bird Conservation Network Magazine) Volume 10.2 has a picture of Nature Seychelles’ CEO Nirmal Shah on its cover. This was a Special issue covering the Bird Tourism Charter for Asia. The picture (see above) shows Nirmal with a Sooty Tern Serna fuscata perched on his head, and seemingly having a chat with another. Taken on Bird Island, it is set against the backdrop of the famous bird spectacle that occurs on this and other islands from May-September when millions of Sooty Terns descend on the island to breed.

“If this keeps on, I will soon be able to quit my day job”. Shah Says.

Picture taken by Manisha Shah.

Tags: Bird Island, Nature Seychelles, Sooty terns

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Category: Nature Seychelles, birds | Date: Aug 14 2009 | By: savingparadise

Zwazo issue No. 19 is out. Zwazo is produced bi-annually by Nature Seychelles and distributed in hard copy. Issue No. 19 focuses on people, birds and small islands. In its editorial titled “the Birds and the Buzz”, we tell you why there’s been so much “buzz” about the birds of Seychelles. We tell you how “the little brown job”, the Seychelles Warbler, saved from extinction through conservation action on Cousin Island, became the rallying point for rescuing other species and helped save seabirds, lizards, sea turtles and coral fish.

Cousin Island Special Reserve celebrated 40 years of conservation success in 2008. In this issue we tell you the comprehensive “coconuts to conservation” story. We also bring you stories from people who have been associated with the Reserve since its purchase by International Commission for Protection of Birds, now BirdLife International, in 1968. Prof. Tony Diamond of the University of New Brunswick lived on Cousin in the mid-1970s. Read his “Birds and the Bush: Bird responses to vegetation changes on Cousin Island, 1970s – 2008″ where he  talks about the restoration of native forest on Cousin Island; “an interesting, and potentially instructive, ecological experiment”.

Continue Reading »

Tags: birds, Zwazo

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Category: Heritage Gardens, Nature Seychelles | Date: Jul 09 2009 | By: savingparadise

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of showing visitors from the Regional Home for the Elderly at North East Point, Mahe, around the Heritage Garden next to our centre at Roche Caiman.

The home is a residential facility that provides care for the elderly. Caregivers at the home engage the residents in a number of therapeutic activities. One of them is gardening. They say gardening provides much needed relaxation and improves physical and mental health.

The home has therefore been very interested in our garden and plans are underway to help them create their own. The visitors engaged Lucina, our plant expert, in a steady stream of dialogue, asking about the benefits of various plants. Yesterday’s visit helped to identify different plants they would like to have.

Lucina told me later that one of the objectives of the garden is to rescue plants grown by older generations of Seychellois and use them once again in traditional ways. Many Seychellois have grown up around gardens. What a pleasure then it was to re-connect gardening with some of its friends.

About the Heritage Garden:

This demonstration Heritage Garden© at Roche Caiman has been designed by Nature Seychelles as a model to be replicated by Wildlife Clubs in schools and by the community at home. Not only do we collect plant species that are richly filled with historical value for propagation in the school- based clubs as well as to the adjoining communities, we also collect and collate their stories. We promote the use and value-adding of plants through exhibitions and learning programs. We encourage young volunteers to work with us in this Garden to gain skills and knowledge. We open up this Garden to the public to enthuse and excite people.

Tags: health, natural healing, plants, Seychelles, therapy

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Category: Cousin Island, Nature Seychelles | Date: Jun 30 2009 | By: savingparadise

Efforts to make Cousin Island the first carbon neutral Reserve in the world received a dose of publicity this past weekend through a CNN World Report submitted by the Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC).

Nature Seychelles wants to put in place a carbon offset program to protect the environment, maintain Cousin’s reputation as a world class reserve, and reassure visitors that their travel to the Reserve would be carbon neutral.

“Fly less” is one of the most recognized green mantras. Air travel is continually being slammed for producing climate-destroying greenhouses gases.  In some places, tourists are being advised to avoid such travel altogether. This could harm destinations such as Seychelles, which are economically dependent on tourism.

Privately managed conservation sites,  such as Cousin Island Special Reserve, could also be hard hit as they depend on  ecotourism revenues for conservation. Cousin Island attracts about 11,000 international eco-tourists annually.

We will of course keep you updated on this project. We would also love to hear from you about any carbon reduction undertakings you have had.

Meanwhile, you can watch the report at the CNN website here 

Tags: climate change, greenhouse gases, tourism, travel

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Category: Nature Seychelles | Date: Jun 25 2009 | By: savingparadise

[J-elle. One of the Cousin Island Wardens]

Hello there. Bonjour.

This is Nature Seychelles (Birdlife in Seychelles), an environmental and conservation NGO, involved in various activities aimed at saving and protecting Seychelles’ unique environment. We are lucky to get upfront and personal with nature here.

Our headquarters is at the Centre for Environment and Education near Victoria, Mahe, the capital of Seychelles. Seychelles species and habitats are of world importance and we hope to play a role, through this blog, in linking this world to the outside world.

Our work involves protecting important sites, conserving marine life and habitats, restoring Islands, stopping extinctions, stopping alien invasions, protecting precious plants, balancing conservation and development, investing in people, building partnerships and promoting education and awareness. And most important of all spreading the word.

We manage the Cousin Island Special Reserve, a world recognised sea and island protected area and a haven for land and sea birds. On Cousin, we conduct research and monitoring, habitat management, community involvement and tour guiding.

Cousin Island was purchased by the International Council of Bird Preservation (ICBP now BirdLife International) to save the last remaining population of Seychelles Warbler from extinction in 1968. Last year it celebrated 40 years of its existence and incredible success. You can read more about Cousin’s success story here. The success at Cousin has inspired Nature Seychelles to help restore other Islands through actions like translocation of threatened bird species, rat eradication and planting indigenous species and introducing native species.

We are also involved in coral reef monitoring and research, turtle conservation and other marine work. Next to our centre in Mahe, we manage the Sanctuary at Roche Caiman, an urban wetland near the capital city. The Sanctuary is a site for learning, conservation and recreation. At the Heritage Gardens, also next to our Centre at Mahe, we are studying and restoring native food plants.

Explore the work of Nature Seychelles in greater detail at our website here.

We hope our stories will help you witness conservation in action and inspire you to do your part.

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