Month: September 2025

The Call of the Loon – pioneering seabird conservation research by kayak

NHBS was proud to support Roland Arnison and his 2025 Call of the Loon Expedition, providing him with monitoring equipment including trail cameras and audio recorders. Roland’s mission to document Scotland’s seabirds and explore innovative, low-impact survey methods aligns strongly with NHBS’ commitment to advancing field research and conservation. With so many seabird populations in sharp decline, we were pleased to contribute to this important work, which explores new ways to monitor and protect seabirds and could benefit future conservation projects.

We have really enjoyed following Roland’s progress and seeing some of the incredible photos and recordings he has captured, and we hope you will too.

I have spent the last two summers kayaking around the Hebrides in Scotland, on the hunt for seabirds. The heart of this solo expedition is my self-appointed mission to record the calls of all of Scotland’s seabird species. This has gone well and after kayaking 700 miles, visiting countless seabird colonies on remote islands, I have captured sound recordings of 25 of the 30 species on my list, including the bird after which the Call of the Loon expedition is named: the Great Northern Diver Gavia immer, aka the Loon.

The solo sea kayaking has been adventurous, challenging, and at times at little too perilous. In 2024, my kayak floated away from the shore (due to a momentary lapse of concentration!). My attempts to recover it by swimming in the cold waters off the Isle of Coll resulted in hypothermia, exhaustion, the intervention of the Coastguard- and no kayak. My precious kayak was later found off south Skye and I was reunited with it and able to continue the expedition. In 2025, the expedition took me to the Outer Hebrides and I grabbed the opportunity to paddle out to St Kilda, that magnificent compact rocky archipelago in the Atlantic with the tallest seacliffs in Britain, some 40 miles off the west coast of North Uist. St Kilda is a haven for seabirds, a World Heritage Site, managed by National Trust for Scotland and an obvious destination for me on my seabird expedition. But it did involve a memorable 14 hour, 60km epic solo paddle to get there.

The Call of the Loon expedition has a particular relevance due to the ecological state of Britain’s seabirds. Most of our seabirds have seen significant declines in the last 20 years, due to climate change, overfishing, and the impact of invasive predator species amongst other factors. Of the 25 seabird species that regularly breed in Scotland, 21 are on the Red or Amber lists of Birds of Conservation Concern. In Scotland, over twenty years, puffin populations have dropped by 32%, Arctic Skua numbers fell by 66% and the rare Leach’s Storm Petrel is now classed as ‘critically endangered’ in the UK, with its Scottish population crashing by almost 80%. The bird flu epidemic in recent years has also hit some species such as Gannets and Great Skuas very hard.

The Call of the Loon expedition has broader research aims beyond the quest to record the sounds of seabirds. One, disarmingly simple, research question I have been trying to answer is: is it possible to carry out transect surveys of seabirds from the cockpit of a sea kayak while paddling along coastlines and across the open sea? So far, my practical trials have shown some successes, recording both digitally (on a tablet or phone in Aquapac waterproof cases) and through use of waterproof notebooks. More specific research aims include using remote recording equipment to identify the presence of particular seabird species or to reveal certain behaviours, while minimising disturbance of the birds. The Song Meter Micro 2 remote audio recorder has been an essential piece of equipment, allowing me to capture recordings of seabird calls that I would not otherwise have been able to achieve, and providing evidence of the presence of nocturnal seabirds – notably European Storm Petrel Hydrobates pelagicus and Leach’s Storm Petrel Hydrobates leucorhous. Like many seabird species, these petrels spend most of their time at sea, only visiting land for the summer breeding season. In Britain, they only nest on remote rocky islands, far from humans (and rats). They only come and go from their crevice or burrow nests on dark nights, as a predator avoidance tactic. So, you can appreciate that these seabirds are not easy to find. Leach’s petrel is especially rare in Britain, only a handful of known colonies nest on offshore islands off the Outer Hebrides, with around 90% of them on St Kilda. The use of a sea kayak to reach their remote colonies and the deployment of the Song Meter Micro 2 have been powerful tools to find and record their calls.

A Browning Recon Force Elite HP5 trail camera has also been useful. I have used this remote camera to record images of puffins as they visit their burrow nests. The initial idea was to capture photos of Puffins carrying fish in their beaks to feed to their puffling chicks. These photos can be used to identify the type and quantities of fish that puffins are catching, as researched by National Trust for Scotland’s ‘Puffarazi’ citizen science project: https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/seabirds-camera-action But use of the camera trap outside a puffin burrow also revealed simpler data: how often the puffins visit their nests and at which times of day.

Browning Recon Force Elite HP5

Experimenting with the Song Meter Micro 2 and Browning Elite has opened up new possibilities in potential applications in seabird research, and I am currently developing a plan for a future seabird research expedition using remote recording devices. Anyone interested in collaborating with me on this can contact me on roland@shearwater.me.uk

NHBS has been a very supportive partner in the Call of the Loon expedition, through supplying the research equipment and their technical advice and I would like to thank them hugely for their support.

The Call of the Loon expedition is also supported by Sea Kayaking UK, Celtic Paddles, Sennheiser, Whetman Equipment, Reed Chillcheater, Aquapac and the European Nature Trust.

If you are interested in the Call of the Loon expedition, you can read more and sign up to the newsletter on the Call of the Loon website: https://rolandarnison.co.uk/call-of-the-loon-expedition/ and support the expedition through the Crowdfunder: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/call-of-the-loon-expedition-2025 You can read and subscribe to the expedition blogs: https://rolandarnisonadventures.wordpress.com/category/call-of-the-loon-2025/ and follow the expedition on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roland.arnison and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rolandarnisonadventures/

Author – Roland Arnison

Dave Ellacott – Reserves Warden for Wild Planet Trust

NHBS has teamed up with the Wild Planet Trust as part of our ongoing commitment to support wildlife and conservation. We have donated over 30 habitat boxes alongside wildlife cameras for use both on their local reserves and zoo sites.

We recently had the opportunity to speak with Reserves Warden Dave Ellacott, who is responsible for both the Primely and Clennon reserves. This week, we chatted to him about the work of the trust, his plans for the donated boxes and what successes and challenges he faces in his work.

Firstly, can you tell us a little bit about Wild Planet Trust, what you do and how the organisation began?

Wild Planet Trust – previously called the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust – operates zoos, but we also manage nature reserves. I look after two of them: Primley and Clennon. Primley is what remains of the old garden and parkland that surrounded Primley House, the former estate of the Whitley family and residence of the zoo’s founder, Herbert Whitley. In 1995, the first warden was brought in to transform it into a local nature reserve and public open space. It’s been a popular spot for locals ever since. Clennon serves a slightly different purpose. For the most part, there is no public access. This allows us to safeguard the habitat from disturbances caused by human presence. However, Paignton Zoo’s Nature Trail, which zoo visitors can access, offers the public the opportunity to experience a small corner of this reserve, including our traditionally managed coppice woodland. Both reserves play their part in supporting local ecosystems while offering people genuinely rewarding places to connect with nature.

What are you hoping to achieve with the installation of our habitat boxes across your three nature reserves?

These sites already have considerable natural assets – caves, some magnificent veteran trees, and areas we deliberately leave undisturbed. The habitat boxes should provide those additional ecological niches that might otherwise be absent. It’s about creating opportunities for species that need very specific conditions for nesting or shelter. Every habitat has its gaps, and these installations should help fill some of those spaces. We’re curious to see what takes up residence and how it might shift the balance of wildlife we’re already supporting.

A large part of the work that Wild Planet Trust does is focused on educating the next generation on the natural world. Why do you think this is so important?

While education isn’t really my area – I’m more focused on the practical side of habitat management – I can see how these reserves function as living demonstrations of what healthy ecosystems actually look like. When families explore the Nature Trail at Clennon or spend time wandering Primley’s varied landscapes, they’re experiencing woodland, meadow, and wetland habitats firsthand rather than just reading about them. There’s something valuable in that direct encounter with nature that you simply can’t replicate in a classroom. People need to feel that connection before they truly understand why conservation matters.

What conservation challenges have you faced over the past few years?

Ash Dieback has been particularly challenging – it’s an ongoing process of assessment, removal, and replanting that’s fundamentally altered the character of our woodlands. You’re constantly weighing safety against habitat value and planning for a very different canopy structure than what was there before. Then there’s the perpetual balancing act between maintaining public access and protecting sensitive habitats – you want people to engage with these places without compromising their ecological integrity. But we’re increasingly seeing the impact from climate change too, which adds another layer of complexity. From gradual shifts in species behaviour and plant communities, to the sudden loss of our 230-year-old Lucombe oak in Primley during Storm Kathleen last year – we’re continuously having to adapt our management approaches while working within realistic resource constraints. All of this means being strategic about where you can make the most meaningful impact.

Halting species decline and preserving vital ecosystems is a key aspect of the work you do. Do you have a favourite success story that you can share with us?

The transformation of Primley’s meadowland over the past three decades is probably our most satisfying long-term achievement. It’s been a simple but persistent approach – removing the annual hay crop to gradually reduce soil fertility and allow a more diverse plant community to establish. What was once a rather monotonous sward dominated by aggressive grasses has evolved into diverse wildflower meadow. The change has been incremental but vital for native biodiversity, supporting insects, birds, and small mammals. It’s a perfect example of how patient, consistent management can restore ecosystems, even if the results take decades to fully appreciate.

Finally, are you working on any other conservation projects at the moment that we can hear about?

Maintaining what we have certainly keeps us occupied, but we’re also developing some thoughtful enhancement projects. We’re planning watercourse improvements across both sites – installing leaky dams and other features that should improve flood resilience while creating diverse wetland habitats. The Ash Dieback situation, while challenging, has also created opportunities to diversify our woodland structure with more resilient native species. We’re thinking carefully about connectivity too – how these reserves can better serve as stepping stones in the broader landscape for wildlife movement. It’s about working pragmatically with the challenges we face while looking for those opportunities to genuinely improve what we can offer.