Ranger Round-Up 2026: Week 1

Welcome to the new weekly ranger round-up, where our Summer Marine Rangers Emma and Charley as well as our Gull Ranger, Patrick, will come together to share everything they have been up to! Enjoy reading through these weekly summaries and please pop into Blue Adventures if you want to say hi to the team.

Meet the team! 

Hi everyone! I’m Emma (she/her), and I’m super excited to be joining the BMR team this summer as the Marine Ranger. For the past four years I have been studying Ecological and Environmental Sciences at University of Edinburgh, but have always been interested in marine sciences - having been President of the Marine Society for the past 2 years. I am thrilled to be co-ordinating events and meeting you all this summer (as well as keeping my eyes peeled for the Orcas!).

Hi everyone!! My name is Charley (she/her) and I am joining the BMR team this summer as a Marine Conservation Ranger. I am heading into my third year studying Ocean Science and Marine Conservation at the University of Plymouth - a course I am thoroughly enjoying! Before starting my degree, I was working across South-East Asia as a PADI Staff Instructor, teaching scuba diving to people all over the world and supporting conservation-focused dive projects. I’m really looking forward to bringing that experience into my ranger role. This season is shaping up to be a busy one, with lots of new events and exhibitions, I can’t wait to bring them to life, and meet everyone who comes along!

I’m Patrick (he/him), joining the BMR team as our first Gull Ranger! I have spent countless hours watching birds (and all wildlife) in all environments and weathers over the years. I’m really excited to give them some positive press and put into action some ideas to tackle the people-gull conflict at its root and help us co-exist, as we do with all aspects of wildlife on the reserve such as seals and fishing! I’m also really keen on cetaceans, and am looking forward to learning from the rest of the team about all aspects of marine life here!

What have we been up to?

Snorkel Festival

The week began with a bang over the weekend with the snorkel festival - where Charley was pulled in, to guide snorkellers around the beautiful Eyemouth coastline alongside Sally, our chair of trustees. This was an excellent opportunity for us all to meet one another and the locals, as well as understanding the importance recreational marine activities have for bringing people together!

Getting to know the area 

Throughout the week we have had plenty of opportunities to get to know the local area in Eyemouth - including spotting the resident grey seals! We were also lucky enough to glimpse some bottlenose dolphins swimming just outside of St Abbs Harbour whilst doing a gull survey together. 

We have also been joined by our regular volunteer for the month, Thomas, who has been a huge help across the board. He’s been out with us on gull surveys, joined the beach clean up at Killiedraught Bay, and came along to St Abbs Head to learn how to identify some of the key bird species around the reserve. It’s been brilliant having him involved and getting to share more of the local wildlife with him.

Gull surveys

We have mapped out over 120 nests across Eyemouth, St Abbs and Coldingham and visited them 3 times each so far. There has been a big increase in chicks through the month, with 145 at our most recent counts. It will be really interesting to see how the productivity counts compare to their natural nesting areas, for example at St Abbs Head!

Seabird identification at St Abbs Head

We took a trip to the seabird colony at the Head with Jordanna, the Engagement Ranger, at National Trust for Scotland. We looked at distinguishing all the different seabirds at the site, for example Guillemots and Razorbills; as with the gulls, most species had their first chicks of the season with many more to come. What a place!

Beach clean

On Wednesday, we got stuck straight into a beach clean at Killiedraught Bay. We were incredibly lucky with the weather - beautiful sunshine all morning, and we had a fantastic turnout, with around 11 people joining us to help. It was a brilliant chance to meet more of the local community, chat about the reserve, and hear people’s own stories and memories of the coastline. The mix of our volunteer, Thomas, our trustee’s, and the usual friendly faces from our local community made the whole session feel really welcoming and energetic. By the end of the clean up, we recorded each type of litter collected and weighed a total of 16.13kg of waste collected from the bay. This was a great way to start the season and a reminder of how much we can achieve when the community gets involved. 

TESCOs award 

We were also lucky enough to win £1000 through the TESCOs Stronger Starts blue token scheme. This money will fund the delivery of educational sessions in local schools - a vital strand of the work we do here at BMR.

Planning the summer

Other than that, we have been busy organising and planning events for this summer! Keep your eyes peeled for beach cleans, nurdle hunts, rockpooling rambles and crafty events such as nature journaling and photo competitions. We are brimming with ideas and can’t wait to meet you all over the coming months. Also, we are relocating from the Hippodrome to Blue Adventures, so please swing by when you can to say hello and see what we have to offer. 

If you have any questions for us, or want to share your favourite memories of the Berwickshire Marine Reserve, feel free to pop into the shop for a chat. If you’re interested in getting involved as a volunteer this season, come down to Blue Adventures on Eyemouth High Street, or e-mail us at info@berwickshiremarinereserve.org for more information - we’d love to meet you and tell you more about what’s happening this season across the reserve.