Occasionally, I find myself stuck on islands. I never mind – it’s just part of the work I do. We can’t control the weather or the sea. More time away from the ‘real world’ is often welcome. And one of my favourite things is watching a wide vista of weather over the ocean, watching wind tear at the waves, clouds race overhead, the dappling of light on the sea.

From the top of the Mokohinau islands, you can see a long long way. Back to the mainland with the bulk of Taranga – Hen island and its scattered Chickens in the foreground, out to Aotea Great Barrier, up the coast to the Poor Knights islands. We are perched on the very edge of the Hauraki Gulf. I remember staring out at all these islands when I first came here several years ago – the very beginnings of my seabird science journey. In the intervening years I’ve set foot on all of them. In some lights they seem close enough to touch, in others they vanish in a haze, seem worlds away. The light plays with them all differently, so sometimes I break my long lens away from chasing birds and chase the light instead, trying to preserve those views that last fleeting minutes as the weather roars past, leaving us wind-tossed and island-bound.