Jutten Island - The good, the bad and the bunnies - 08:05 am

26 Jan 2010

We woke at dawn after a night filled with screeching gulls and the regular illumination of our rooms by the lighthouse across the bay. After a quick coffee we went slowly down to an open area near to the jetty where we could watch the gulls and some cormorants and oystercatchers going about their business without disturbing them.

It’s another perfect day. The sea has calmed for now although no doubt there will be more wind this afternoon.

Jutten has many similarities to Malgas and yet it’s a very different island. While the rocks are covered in guano to an extent that they look painted with gloss, and are supremely slippery, there isn’t the bouncy feel to the land that Malgas has with it’s thick layer of gannet-supplied guano. Still, we’re already developing a fine dusting on ourselves. Pity there’s not a shower...or any running water for that matter.


The centre of Jutten is actually green. A couple of species of hardy pioneer plants scratch out an existence in this ammonia-rich substrate.

And surviving quite happily on these straggly plants are numerous rabbits. They’re everywhere – and rather jumpy (pardon the pun). They must have been brought to the island as food for the guano collectors and managed to survive here long after the people had gone.

Their existence here must be tough, and food will definitely limit them, which is just as well seeing that there are no land predators. Unless the toxic baboon spiders I know are here, are even more ferocious than I expect. We haven’t seen one yet this trip. But to be fair, other than checking every piece of clothing ultra carefully before putting it on, I haven’t looked for them yet.
No sign of pelicans either…We’ll have to stop filming until the afternoon when the sun loses its glare and we can see again against the whiteness of the rocks.

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