Good news! The Bermuda Zoological Society has awarded us a sum of money to subsidize our last trip to Bermuda. Many thanks to Annie Glasspool and her team for their support.
I'm happy to report that it was a successful trip; Franz & I met for the
very first time (after we have corresponded for over a year), and we agreed to submit our first paper for publication in January (watch this space). We found
many new species, both new to Bermuda and perhaps new to science (see our checklist, also on this site, under construction).
On the downside, we got rained out for 2 days due to Tropical Storm Noel (I suppose we’re lucky it didn’t turn into a hurricane). We did some field work in those days but got soaked!
I also ran into poison ivy on Abbott’s Cliff...
...an historic natural area, famous for its native and endemic Bermudian plants, where we collected on our last day. I can of course recognize poison ivy in the field, but I was too busy trying to keep my balance on the sheer cliff to avoid those horrible vines. Somebody really should try and clear that cliff; it's too valuable a natural area to leave in such a horrible state. Was all worth it, however, as we found made some interesting collections here.