Flocking birds on the Chincha Islands, the cluster of 30 remote islands off the coast of Peru, home to c.50,000 seabirds and their highly prized guano deposits. The islands have a dark history; famed for their prodigious natural fertilizer, they were fought over by European powers, playing host to thousands of indigenous peons and Chinese ‘coolies’ who were cruelly worked to death. Today, around 80 guardaislas are employed by the Peruvian government to ward off marauders, while around 300 legal guano harvesters come to reap their crop. It’s a solitary existence; the residents often live alone passing their days among disused piers and warehouses, fishing for their food, counting the birds, staving off melancholy. ‘The birds show more affection to each other than humans,’ says Mauro Tomairo. At 67, he is the oldest guardaisla in service; he dreads the thought of retirement and the noise of the mainland after 40 years on the islands.

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