Ascension Island: Masked Booby

Ascension Island Seabirds Definitive

Ascension Island is the most important seabird breeding site in the tropical Atlantic and is one of the most important warm water seabird stations in the world. This new definitive series includes each of the 11 species of breeding seabird found ion Ascension. The present seabird population is thought to be only a fraction of what it was prior to man’s colonisation of the island in 1815, when there are estimated to have been millions of seabirds nesting in large colonies on the mainland.  The introduction of cats to Ascension Island in the 1800s led to rapid population declines of seabirds nesting on the mainland. The relatively small surviving populations were limited to inaccessible cliff ledges and offshore stacks, the largest of which is Boatswain Bird Island. In 2002, a feral cat control programme was initiated and the island was declared feral cat free in 2004. Seabird recolonisation of accessible mainland sites was first recorded in May 2002 and numbers have increased steadily since. The first species to recolonise were masked booby, brown booby, brown noddy and white-tailed tropicbird. However, it took ten years for Ascension’s endemic frigatebird to return to nest on the mainland, with the first two mainland nests found in 2012. The numbers nesting on the mainland have increased to 1632 in 2025 and hopefully this will continue to increase.  15p Band Rumped Storm Petrel The smallest breeding Seabird on Ascension, storm petrels nest in burrows on Boatswain Bird Island Sanctuary. Their dark brown plumage is broken up by a striking white band on their rump and pale wing bars. Storm petrels are best seen offshore from boats or from Hummock Point Nature Reserve as they commute to their nest sites.  20p Black Noddy, 25p Brown Noddy The brown noddy is noticeably larger than the darker black noddy and the pale forehead and crown of the black noddy is more pronounced. Brown noddies nest singularly or in small colonies on rocky outcrops around the coast while black noddies are restricted to remote cliff ledges where they nest colonially.  Brown noddies can sometimes be seen nesting at the Mars Bay Nature Reserve but are most numerous on offshore stacks and the adjacent coastline or on the Letterbox Peninsula. Black noddies can be observed at Pillar Bay or around the Letterbox Nature Reserve with most nesting on Boatswain Bird Island Sanctuary.  30p Sooty Tern Sooty terns have black plumage on their backs and white underneath, with a deeply forked tail. They are locally known as Wideawakes because of their loud call, which means they will often be heard before they are seen, particularly in breeding season. They nest colonially, historically returning to the island every 10 months to breed in vast numbers on the Wideawake fairs at Mars Bay and Waterside. Monitoring this vast colony is tricky but the Conservation Department are conducting drone surveys to produce accurate population counts. They can be seen at Mars Bay or Waterside Nature Reserves (during breeding season).  40p Fairy Tern Also known as White terns, these small white, inquisitive terns will often follow visitors, particularly during walks around Green Mountain and off Middleton’s Path. This species tends to remain close to the island all year round and can often be seen in pairs performing synchronised aerobatics. The best places to find them are Green Mountain National Park and Letterbox Nature Reserve.  50p Red Footed Booby, 60p Brown Booby, 65p Masked Booby Three species of booby nest around Ascension. The largest and most numerous is the Masked booby which is predominately white with black trailing edges to the wings and tail. When nesting, they create a distinct guano circle around the nest site. Males can be identified by their whistle while females make a grunting noise.  The smallest Ascension booby is the Brown booby, nesting on the Letterbox and South Coast Nature Reserves. They are easily distinguished by their brown plumage with adults having a crisp white belly and dull yellow bill and feet.  Red-footed boobies nest on the cliffs of Boatswain Bird Island Sanctuary and on the Letterbox Nature Reserve. Two colour morphs are found on Ascension- the paler may be confused with masked boobies in flight however red-foots have a white tail. The brown morph is easy to identify with their bright red feet. The best places to see these birds are Boatswain Bird Island Sanctuary and the Letterbox and South Coast Nature Reserves.  £1 Yellow-billed Tropicbird, £1.30 Red-billed Tropicbird Both of these species can most easily be seen in flight; their strikingly elongated central tail feathers and loud calls make them easily identifiable. Tropicbirds are mostly white with a black eye stripe. The yellow-billed tropicbird is smaller, more delicate and is mostly white with prominent diagonal black bars on the wings. In contrast, the red-billed tropicbird has fine black barring on its back. These hole-nesting species are often easy to miss when scanning a cliff as all that is visible is the long tail streamers. Can be seen along the Northwest coast and Boatswain Bird Island Sanctuary.  £2.50 Female/Juvenile Frigatebird, £5 Male Frigatebird Endemic to Ascension, this distinctive seabird with long wings and a deeply forked tail is most often observed in flight. Adults are predominately dark with males displaying a distinctive red throat pouch during the breeding season. Females have a blue ring around their eyes. Juveniles can be identified by their white head and belly. Frigatebirds are highly adapted to an aerial lifestyle; they are very light for their size and fly very efficiently using thermals to soar over vast distances. Their plumage is not waterproof so they never land on the ocean but instead use their aerial agility to pluck food from the surface of the ocean or steal from other seabirds. The downside of adaptation to life on the wing is that they have very short legs suited more to perching than walking even short distances. This species nests on Boatswain Bird Island Sanctuary and adjacent Letterbox Nature Reserve. Males attract females to mate with by inflating their large red throat pouch and vibrating their wings. Females lay a single white egg on the ground, with only a few feathers or pieces of vegetation to mark the nest.  We acknowledge with thanks the help and assistance of the Ascension Island Government Conservation and Fisheries Directorate. High resolution images for this stamp issue can be found below: SetFirst Day Cover 1First Day Cover 2

Ascension Island: 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Sir Winston Churchill

This special stamp issue released by the Ascension Island Post Office commemorates the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965). One of the 20th century's most significant figures, Churchill remains popular in the UK and the rest of the English-speaking world.  Although Churchill was a statesman, military officer, writer (receiving a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953), amateur artist and devoted father, he is generally viewed as the victorious wartime leader who defended liberal democracy against the spread of fascism, and as a liberal reformer who spurred the creation of the modern welfare state. Historians and the British public often rank Churchill as one of the greatest prime ministers in British history, serving from 1940 to 1945 (during WW2) and again from 1951 to 1955. Apart from a brief period from 1922 to 1924, he was a member of Parliament from 1900 to 1964.  Of mixed English and American parentage, Churchill was born in Oxfordshire into the aristocratic Spencer family. However, by the standards of his social class, he was not especially wealthy and spent much of his life on the brink of debt and bankruptcy.  From a young age he aspired to become a great man, believing that without a great deal of money to his name he would first have to become a hero.  He achieved this by literally throwing himself at life. Prior to WWI he had participated in 4 wars with great bravery. As a war correspondent during the 2nd Boer War he had already achieved some fame when his capture and subsequent escape through 300 miles of enemy territory attracted a great deal of publicity. Throughout that war, he publicly chastised anti-Boer prejudices, calling for them to be treated with "generosity and tolerance", and afterwards urged the British to be magnanimous in victory. In 1898, as a 23-year-old, he even participated in the last major cavalry charge of the British Army, at the Battle of Omdurman. At the outbreak of WW1 Churchill was serving as First Lord of the Admiralty. However some questionable decisions saw him demoted and after resigning from Government, he served as an officer on the Western Front before being appointed Minister of Munitions.  When he became Prime Minister in 1940, he believed that everything in his life up until that point was simply in preparation for that moment. In the 1930’s, Churchill was one of the first to warn of the threat posed by the rise of the Nazis in Germany. At a time when appeasement was popular, he was ridiculed in the House of Commons and his speeches kept off the airwaves by the BBC. Ultimately, he was proven to be right and became the great war leader who oversaw the survival of Britain during the terrible period from the evacuation of Dunkirk until the end of 1941 when Russia and the USA joined the war. Ultimately Churchill triumphed and, in this regard, he was central to saving Western Civilisation. High resolution images for this stamp issue can be found below - SetFirst Day Cover          

Ascension Island: Insects

Ascension is a speck on the world map. Seemingly lost in the Atlantic Ocean, the island is tiny and unique. Much of Ascension’s biodiversity fits the same description. Some of the smallest animal forms, found nowhere else on the planet, rule this isolated island.  In fact, the majority of species unique to Ascension are invertebrates - they have no backbone. Ascension's so-called "endemic" invertebrates are reclusive and difficult to find. Early explorers dismissed the island's apparently-lacking biodiversity. Had they looked a little closer, they would have been surprised.  Ascension’s rolling volcanic landscapes accommodate around 30 endemic invertebrate species. Surviving such harsh environments requires ingenious evolutionary adaptation. From spiders to springtails, the invertebrates have all found some way of getting by. Their varied life strategies are as fascinating as their distinct methods of colonization.  Endemic crickets adorned with fish-like scales (Discophallus species) patrol the coastlines after dark. Rarely seen, they are the secretive clean-up crew of detritus and carcasses. The Discophallus are natural sailors - their ancestors likely reached Ascension atop driftwood.  Other invertebrates took to the air. Mendel’s barkfly (Indiopsocus mendeli) is incapable of flying such a distance unaided. Its ancestors would have needed to travel on strong air currents. Native moths would have arrived by the same method. But, endemic Gray's fungus moth (Erechthias grayi) has reduced wings, incapable of flight. This minuscule species is enigmatic for its alternative running and hopping locomotion. It has adapted to exposed ridges, where large wings would parachute away in high winds.  Why go through the effort of flying when you could hitch a lift? Pseudoscorpions, distinct from scorpions for having no stinging tail, found the easy route. They would have clung to seabirds with their pincers to make the perilous journey. Ascension has five endemic species. One of those, the giant pseudoscorpion (Garypus titanius), is the world's largest. It has grown in size to fill a vacant ecological niche in the absence of larger land animals.  Despite such diverse evolutionary origins, all Ascension's endemic invertebrates face similar present-day threats. Introduction of non-native species to the island has caused extensive damage to habitats. Research and management is key to cementing the futures of these over-looked species High resolution images for this stamp issue can be found below - Set  

Ascension Islands: Deep Sea

Ascension's Marine Protected Area (MPA) is one of the largest in the world, protecting 445 000 km2 of ocean. The waters around Ascension are near pristine, supporting healthy populations of seabirds, tuna, marlin, and sharks as well as thirteen species of fish found nowhere else in the world.  It is a thriving oceanic community in the heart of the Atlantic.  Designating Ascension’s MPA is one way of safeguarding its unique marine biodiversity. But in order to protect this environment properly, we must understand the habitats and organisms which live here and determine how these ecosystems may be coping with changes in the marine environment.  The average depth of Ascension's MPA is 3500 metres and much of it remains unexplored. In November 2022, the Royal Research Ship Discovery arrived in Ascension's waters after travelling almost four and a half thousand miles from the UK. The scientists onboard were joined by Ascension’s fisheries department to undertake specialised surveys to explore the deepest parts of Ascension’s waters.  The research team discovered fascinating marine invertebrates on the deep-sea floor- vast coral gardens brimming with black coral lovingly named the ‘curly fry coral’ to reflect their bright orange colour, curly nature. These corals were found in mixed communities of sponges, corals, crabs, bivalves, crinoids, octopus, and deep-sea fish including the endemic Ascension scorpionfish. Some of these sponges and gorgonian corals are very slow growing and are likely to be thousands of years old! They have existed untouched and undisturbed by the rest of the world, evading much of the anthropogenic pressures placed on other marine communities such as deep-sea mining and trawling.  The expedition discovered a new seamount in the northwest of the MPA in an area previously thought to be a large expanse of flat empty ocean. The seamount covers an area of 80 km2 and reaches 1000 metres from the sea floor - it is larger than Ascension Island itself!   The discovery of this seamount and deep-sea animals and habitats are a great reminder of how little we know about the Ascension MPA and how vital these research expeditions are. They give island conservationists access to areas of open ocean and the deep-sea that would otherwise be impossible to reach.  High resolution images for this stamp issue can be found below - Set