Chicken Ship
Last year she raised a couple of seagulls. This year there were no baby gulls to rescue, and so Roxanne has been trying her hand as a chicken farmer.
Articles by Roxanne Schinas
About Roxanne Schinas
Roxanne is the only one of our ship’s company who can claim that she was actually born aboard a yacht. She can also claim to be the youngest sailor amongst us, having made her first channel crossing (from England to France) at two weeks of age. Her first birthday was spent a few days out from Cape Town, and her fifth one day out from the South Atlantic island of St Helena.
Two of Roxanne's first three years were spent living on a farm and her early interest in everything from earwigs to ostriches formed the foundation of her passion for wildlife. At the age of eight Roxanne won first prize in the RSPB’s Nature Diary competition in the 8 – 12 year olds category, and a couple of years afterwards she was asked to write an article for their junior magazine.
At ten she made an extensive study of a seagull colony, hand-reared two baby gulls, and wrote a book about the adventure. Two Gulls and a Girl is published by Imperator and is available via this website or from Amazon UK or Amazon US.
Rox to the Rescue (A Tale of Toads and Frogs)
It’s been a while quite a while since you heard from the Ship’s Naturalist, but that’s not because she hasn’t been writing; it’s because her back-up team haven’t been typing… Herewith, an article which Roxanne penned many moons ago, during our visit to Melilla.
The Sub-Aquatic Naturalist
The year before last, Caesar and Xoë learnt to dive. And ever since then I have wanted to learn too. At the time when my brother and sister learnt to dive, I was only eight. Xoë and Caesar were 14 and 16. They each did several training dives and then they did an exam. They both passed with 100%. Then they were both proper, qualified Open Water Divers and had to be brought all sorts of expensive kit such as…
Seagull Survey (Part X)
It’s been many weeks now since any rain fell on Isla Perdiguera and, from a distance, the island looks as if it is dying. Get a little closer and you find that it is actually just coming to life. In the tenth part of her report the Ship’s Naturalist tells us about some of the other creatures which live here alongside the yellow-legged gulls.
Seagull Survey (Part IX)
In which we bid adios to one of the leading actors.
Seagull Survey (Part VIII)
Time is rushing by, summer is here at long last, and the nests on Isla Perdiguera are falling into disrepair. The one time tenants of those feather lined hollows are now taking to the air, but all is not entirely well on the desert island paradise. Roxanne’s latest report commences where the last left off, in early June.
Seagull Survey (Part VII)
In the latest instalment of her survey Roxanne describes the progress made by her protégés, and then considers the seagulls’ dietary habits and lists some of the other birds which are eking out a living and raising their young on the arid little island of Perdiguera.
Seagull Survey (Part VI)
The continuing saga of the seagulls of Isla Perdiguera, researched and related by Roxanne, the Ship’s Naturalist.
Seagull Survey (Part V)
The Ship’s Naturalist has been kept very busy over the past few weeks, caring for her two yellow-legged gulls. She has also been keeping her diary up to date, and the delay in bringing you part five of the Seagull Survey is through no fault of her own. Part six really will follow shortly – I promise!
Seagull Survey (Part IV)
The May Day weekend was a busy one at Isla Perdiguera, with hordes of yotties turning up to enjoy a barbecue on the beach or a rather chilly dip in the sea. Unfortunately, quite a few also took a ramble around the island, so that the yellow-legged gulls raising their young on the hillsides had rather a stressful time. The Ship’s Naturalist was there, keeping an eye on her friends and proteges.