Sunday 1st August comments: It's all change on the Isle of May national nature reserve as we welcome in the month of August and the changes it will bring.

Yesterday we opened the doors to the Isle of May bird observatory as guests will stay and monitor migration through the island throughout the autumn months. We also continue to welcome hundreds of visitors who make the daily trip from the nearby mainland to witness the magic of the May.

However as we say hello to some, we also say goodbye to others. Today marked a significant date in the diary as its goodbye to our research teams. The research teams from UKCEH and various universities waved goodbye today having been present since mid-April. They've worked long unsociable hours, monitoring several key seabird species, looking closely at productivity (how productive each species has been during the season) as well as study of some intensive plots on the cliffs amongst other work. As ever, it's been a tough season with challenges (covid to name but one) but they got through it and now can enjoy some well earned rest on the mainland.

So well done Mark, Carrie, Ella, Sam and Marine, go enjoy the 'real world', job well done and enjoy the rest (but remember the real world has cars, roads and reliable electricity source). The Isle of May forever changing and autumn is just around the corner...