Extreme conservation

Mike's feeling very relieved today. He finally managed to complete a dangerous abseil that he has been planning (and worrying about) for months. Why worried? Well, it's about 75 metres over a cliff consisting of loosely connected large unstable rocks a long way from anywhere on an island a long way from anywhere and rescue, if possible, was likely to be several hours away. And he couldn't figure out any way to make the climb safe from falling rock. That's why he was worried. But the need to increase the genetic diversity of the once-thought-extinct St Helena ebony Trochetiopsis ebenus (all the individuals planted out are descended from only one of the just two rediscovered trees) meant that he was willing to have a go to get back and collect cuttings from the descendants at the original cliff-bound site. After all, how bad could it be? The original climb was done by climbing hand-over-hand down an old rope tied around Charlie Benjamin's waist with his brother (and co-rediscoverer of the ebony) George holding the other end.

the challenge: to get from the black line to the white line .. and back again

several large metal stakes driven into the ground, lots of purple climbing tape and lots of rope was needed (and carried to the remote site)

then it was just a case of abseiling over the edge. Mike is nearly down to the ebony at bottom right of picture. The white object towards the top is a patch of hi-tech carpet that was hoped to protect the rope and stop it knocking rocks down onto Mike. Unfortunately it did the opposite and knocked several rocks off. Bugger. Luckily they all whistled past a couple of metres from Mike

what's the point of doing something really spectacular without an audience (and preferably lots of cameras)?

Mike mid-abseil, trying to avoid damaging plants and knocking rocks off

Made it! Now how to move around a very narrow ledge without damaging one of the rarest plants on earth that is taking up most of the space.

Getting the cuttings required some acrobatics. Mum, note that I am attached to two ropes

smile for the camera

Mike would like to admit he suffers from Acrophobia (look it up). Now is not a good time to remember this. Views are something else though!

Then it is just a simple job of climbing back up the rope (accompanied by a very inquisitive white tern)

nearly there

a visibly relieved Mike hands over the precious cuttings

Nursery whizz-kid Vanessa Thomas prepares the cuttings for propagation watched by Fran

Darryl Leo has the enviable job of looking after the little cuties

Charlie Benjamin on the original climb

spikys

Spiky yellow woodlouse (syw or spikys for short, Pseudolaureola atlantica to those in academia) is a cute little critter only known from the highest peaks on St Helena. Well, it was known from there, but there seems to have been a dramatic decline and recent reports indicated it may only be known from one spot on High Peak - and even its continued existence there was uncertain. So we teamed up with Ed Thorpe and Annalea Beard, the two people who know most about spikys, to see if we could find them. Luckily they were still present in that one spot on High Peak, but short searches couldn't find them in similar habitats nearby. We started a rat-trapping and planting programme to protect this tiny population (of only about 50 individuals).

Recently Mike has been abseiling the very steep faces  of High Peak. One of his discoveries was a large population of spikys in a fern grove under an exotic spoor (Pittosporum viridiflorum) tree. While dangling off a rope a rough count of 23 individuals were made in the space of about 10 minutes - a marked contrast of the 6 individuals found by 4 people searching for an hour at the other site! Even better was the presence of very young spikys (no one really knew what they look like before). As Ed and Annalea have said, the preferred habitat for this species is the wet, shaded, black-scale fern (Diplazium filamentosum) groves where it inhabits the underside of fronds. Unfortunately because most of the shading trees have disappeared off of St Helena's peaks this is not a common habitat. It is also known from tree ferns (Dicksonia arborescens) and redwood (Trochetiopsis erythroxylon) flowers. It's diet seems to consist of fern spores and possibly plant pollen.

Not much is known about spikys. We don't know how to tell males and females apart (presumably they can). Why are they spiky and yellow? Who knows! Maybe the spikes are a defence against the long fangs of the endemic spider Tecution mellissi. And maybe spiders don't like yellow??

the abseil

prime spiky real estate

a family group? Juvenile spiky at rear

like other woodlice/slater species, spikys roll into a ball when threatened

?female spiky underside? If you know, please let us know!

?male spiky underside?

Cutting New Zealanders off at the knees

One of the problems with trying to get a forest to regrow on St Helena is that all the New Zealand flax Phormium tenax gets in the way and stops seedlings growing. The flax was bought here as the basis for a fibre industry (see this post), but has since spread to occupy most of the high peaks. So we've started cutting it down. It isn't easy work. Flax is very fibrous and it takes a lot of effort and sharp tools (we use swords - Saint name for a machete or bush knife) and grubbers to cut the leaf fan off and then dig out the rhizome. Its also usually really muddy and often very steep - and slips are the last things you want when you're holding a razor sharp sword!

Hensel (Mackerel) Thomas considering trying to scramble further up a near vertical muddy slope while holding a very sharp sword

Keith Wade making great inroads into flax swamping a black cabbage tree

Keith used to work in the flax mills when he was younger (as did Hensel) and it was a pleasure to watch how they dealt with 10 foot tall flax plants

de la maison de Napoleon

I recently had the opportunity to photograph Longwood House, Napoleon's much-hated residence during the later part of his exile. A fascinating place filled with a mixture of original Napoleonic treasures mixed with more recent acquisitions and reconstructions and with walls covered in 100's of illustrations of that time. Thanks to the Tourism Department and Michel Martineau for arranging and allowing access. I'll let the photographs speak for themselves.

Longwood House

Inside the reception room. Naopleon's deathbed to left, scene depicting his death on right. Original pool table through doors at rear

Napoleonic memorabilia - people were cashing in on Napoleon very soon after his death (even before in some cases). One of the many death masks made, a sketch made at the time of his death, "The Grave of Napoleon" concert and the dairy of an upholsterer from Longwood(?)

A cross-section through Napoleon's grave site. He was buried within six coffins made of tin, the second mahogany, the third and fourth lead, the fifth ebony, and the sixth oak

Napoleon's hat and coat

Napoleon's death bed and a bronze cast of his death mask. He had a habit of keeping the shutters closed when he was in a room to avoid the constant watching by English guards

The shutters of Longwood House, complete with viewing holes (lower left shutter) through which Napoleon is reported to have watched the races on Deadwood Plain

The interior courtyard of Longwood House. In foreground are the slabs that topped Napoleon's grave

From the sidelines

Local photographer Ed Thorpe and I got invited to photograph a sports fun day to help raise funds for the Football Association. We both got some excellent shots, though sometimes I found the spectators and off-the-ball action just as photogenic ...

totally unposed

The goalie - two seconds later his team was giving him a bollocking for not watching the ball

The ground at Francis Plain is pretty photogenic too

Like all sports photography - you gotta be at the right place at the right time with a fair bit of luck. That ball looked real big in the viewfinder when it whizzed past my ear

To be fair - we were also invited to the first round of competition for the new Saints Motocross Club. Which resulted in a different (and dustier!) type of photograph

My view, and Ed Thorpe taking his view of the same shot from the background

The first rule of sports photography: get in close. Photograph taken with a 17mm wide-angle lens at about 1.5 metres away and about to be showered in dust and gravel from the previous rider. You don't get much closer than that!!

A picture is worth a thousand words

and a photograph is worth a thousand dollars (one hopes!!), and since we've been pretty useless recently at keeping this blog up to date we thought we'd do it with pictures. So here goes ...

Fran socialised with Jonathan - the oldest animal on earth ( he has been 130 years old for the last century)

The grave of Mr Butcher and his wife, slaves, 1777

The Boer prisoner-of-war cemetery at Knollcombes

The Dolphin stone. Sailors would leave mail under this stone for delivery by the first ship heading the right way. Mail is now much faster, we've had some arrive only 3 months after postage

the coloured earths at Bradleys (on a rare sunny day)

we've planted a few trailer loads of endemic plants. These are for High Peak

The bouganvillea over the Castle entrance. Unfortunately it has now had a trim. Check out the pint-sized cannons either side of the gate

The best (and only) remaining bit of she cabbage tree woodland left on St Helena (the greener plants in the foreground - the ones in the background are exotic flame trees) in the mist together with one of the reasons why they are so rare. This is inside one of the protective fences (which, as you can see in the foreground, is currently closer to the ground than normal). This species and site is also the only known home for some rare endemic insects

we've had lots of practice at taking photographs in the rain. Tree ferns in Diana's Peak National Park

Fran on one of many recent walks. Lot's Wife in background right and Sandy Bay Barn mid background

Another walk. This time through the highly invasive African fountain grass that is rapidly smothering much of the drier parts of the island.

Live music! For something to do Gram (trombone) put together a band of various musicians on the island (most of them from The Big Easy) at the Consulate Hotel. Lots of good blues, jazz and rock covers. Mykel (guitar), Donny (harmonica), Johnny (acoustic guitar) Don' Kno (drummer), Tom (trumpet), Gram (trombone). They're all good musicians: Tom is a world-class trumpeter (but on St Helena by day he works as a drystone waller), Gram is a pretty good tromboner, Donny could be big if he could afford to get off the island, and the guitarists are good stuff too. A real treat.

The view on a rare good day from High Peak (where we do a lot of our work) towards Sandy Bay and Lot's Wife. Most of the time this place is in the clouds and half an hour later the clouds on the horizon arrived.

a fishing boat unloading its catch at Ruperts