IN keeping with the current trend for castaway adventures, a North-East student has been getting to grips with island life.

Ecologist Kathy Fletcher spent three months on the remote Coquet Island, off the Northumberland coast.

The 26-year-old's task was to monitor the island's common and Arctic terns as part of her PhD studies at Durham University.

She and RSPB warden Liz Giddings were the only human inhabitants on Coquet, home to thousands of seabirds including 34 pairs of roseate terns - half the UK's population of the rare bird.

Just as on Taransay, home to the BBC's Castaway programme, creature comforts were rare on Coquet during their stay last Summer.

The two women shared a former lighthouse-keeper's quarters during their stay and their only form of entertainment was a battery-powered radio.

They did, however, have the luxury of fresh food ferried to the island once a fortnight from the mainland.

Kathy, from Merseyside, said: "We didn't have a TV or anything and we could hear the discos going on in Amble (on the mainland) on a night. The first thing I did when I got off the island was get fish and chips and go to the pub!

"But it was much calmer out there than being anywhere else. It was really good for my work because I could get on with it without any distractions."

Working days, which began at 4am and ended at 10pm, were not without their hazards.

Terns are known to attack people if they think their nests and young are at risk and Kathy and Liz were forced to wear hard hats to protect their heads from sharp beaks.

Kathy said: "On one occasion, I went down to the jetty without my hat and I had blood all over me by the time I got back. The funny thing, is we have to cover our hard hats with foam so the birds don't hurt themselves.

"Terns are one of the more aggressive species and they scream, so you have to get used to the noise.

"In fact, when I came off the island I couldn't sleep because it was too quiet."

Kathy, who is in the final year of her studies, will return to Coquet in the summer. She said: "It's a magical place for bird-watching."

Television viewers can see Kathy's time on the island in the Wild North programme, Tyne Tees Television, on Tuesday, at 7.30pm