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Bird life on Montserrat
I was up at 5.30 ready to be guided up Katy Hill by a Montserratian legend, James 'Scriber' Daley. A forester and nature guide, he's the person every research project employs when they come to Montserrat and want to work in the forest. He is an expert on Montserrat's wildlife.
As we drive through the island, greetings are shouted back and forth through the car window. In Montserrat, car horns are forever being pipped and shouts exchanged, as the driver acknowledges a friend they've seen. It's a socially very connected island and Scriber seems to be particularly well known.
Eventually we work our way up an increasingly rutted track (even major roads on this island can have large potholes - one has to pay attention as oncoming drivers swerve onto your side to avoid them) that makes me glad we're in a 4x4. We are now surrounded by thick forest, but occasionally there are steep clearings where farmers are working a patch of ground.
Scriber leads off on an overgrown trail, machete in hand. It is a trail - I can acknowledge that, just - but I wouldn't have had the confidence to declare it one and walk it by myself. It gets steeper and muddier and closed in. Every so often Scriber pulls out a recorder with an Oriole call recorded on it and plays it back. Or puts his hand to his mouth and imitates the male's call.
There are maybe 200-800 birds left. The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust have run a successful breeding program to help ensure their survival. We eventually spot one, but I've gained more from hearing Scriber talk about the status of wildlife on the island, and all the work that's put in to protect it. But that's another story.
This is just one of the stories that inform my talk Montserrat - reclaiming paradise
