Our Latest News- October 12, 2026

Argostoli Field Station 

We may be approaching the end of the season, but despite this, there’s still plenty happening at the Argostoli field station with three more weeks to go!

We are still working hard on our nesting beaches, with fewer than five nests remaining. These nests are being monitored consistently, early on morning surveys, overnight on hatchling rescue, and during an inventory once they have begun to hatch. Every single nest is important, and we are incredibly grateful to all of our volunteers for all their hard work, time, and dedication. Hatchling Rescue remains a key and exciting shift for our volunteers, spending their evenings on the beach and helping to ensure every one of our loggerhead hatchlings reaches the sea safely after they emerge, despite the nests being on light-polluted beaches.

Our evening shifts are also still in full swing, with beach profile helping us monitor how our beaches change throughout the season, enabling us to understand how these changes may impact sea turtle nests, and collecting crucial data as the beaches begin to change. In addition to this beach clean shifts are working hard to remove debris while simultaneously collecting data on the pollution quantity, and types, present on the beaches of Kefalonia.

One of the biggest highlights over the last two weeks has been spotting seven juvenile green turtles in the harbour during a photo identification project drone survey, the highest number ever recorded in one day for Wildlife Sense! Even more exciting, five of the seven turtles were previously unknown to our photo identification project, and it was lovely to see two familiar faces swimming around the Argostoli harbour too.

Of course, it’s not all work! Our activity nights have brought plenty of fun, with game nights, henna, quizzes and sunset swims creating unforgettable memories for the volunteers. With only a few weeks to go, we are looking forward to collecting more data and finishing the nests from this season, while reflecting on what a great season it has been for the field station!

Skala Field Station

As we say goodbye to our final Skala group of the season, we are reflecting on what a fantastic few months it has been here in Skala!

One of the highlights this season has been the introduction of bird surveys to Skala. Across all of our surveys on Cape Mounda, we have recorded an impressive 54 different bird species! With the changing seasons and recent migratory behaviours, we have seen plenty of interesting activity, including the arrival of European Robins and a large fall of Whinchats. It has been great to see the variety of birdlife in the area, and introducing these surveys has been a really exciting addition to our work here in Skala.

We have also now completed our final snorkel surveys of the season, successfully mapping all the areas we had hoped to cover! Over the past few months, our volunteers have spent many hours in the water collecting data and helping us build a better picture of the coastal habitats around Skala. Completing our planned survey areas is a brilliant achievement and a lovely way to round off the season. A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to these surveys – we couldn’t have done it without you!

Alongside our bird and snorkel surveys, it has been wonderful to continue working with our volunteers throughout the final weeks of the season. From early mornings out in the field surveying the sand dunes to afternoons spent exploring the coastline when not working, there have been plenty of opportunities to learn, share experiences, and enjoy everything Skala has to offer.

For our final evening together, we made the most of our beautiful surroundings with one last snorkel, a sunset swim and a group meal out – a truly Skala way to end the season!

As we wrap up another season, we want to say a massive thank you to every volunteer who has joined us in Skala over the past few months. Your enthusiasm, hard work and contributions to our surveys have made this season such a success. We hope you have enjoyed your time here as much as we have, and we look forward to seeing what next season brings!

Svoronata Field Station 

The Marine and Coastal project has returned to Svoronata from Skala for the season’s final volunteer group, and oh, how it’s flown by! Although the season is coming to a close, enthusiasm remains high among the staff and volunteers as they persevere through October’s unpredictable weather. So far, the volunteers have received a full training day, including a successful practice swim in preparation for our Snorkel surveys, and have completed their first few shifts!

Our first Bird Survey of October took place on Friday evening at Koutavos Lagoon; the group observed 16 species at the site, including a Sardinian Warbler (Curruca melanocephala), a Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), and a flock of European Shags (Gulosus aristotelis). Additionally, our team have observed the first European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) and Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) of the season from the field station!

We are very excited to continue with our beach cleaning, beach profiling, snorkelling, sand dune vegetation surveying, and especially bird surveying over these final two weeks.  We are looking forward to seeing how the current local and migratory bird populations here on the island have changed since we last surveyed our sites at the start of September.