--- title: "THE ACAP MONTHLY MISSIVE. South Africa’s Mouse-Free Marion Project spreads the word on World Albatross Day with an albicake, posters and a parkrun!" --- # THE ACAP MONTHLY MISSIVE. South Africa’s Mouse-Free Marion Project spreads the word on World Albatross Day with an albicake, posters and a parkrun! *![Park Run 6 cropped](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/People/Park_Run_6_cropped.jpg) MFM Project ambassador Chris Jones powers through a 5-km parkrun in the*[*Harold Porter National Botanical Garden*](https://www.sanbi.org/gardens/harold-porter/)*,**photograph from the*[*Betty’s Bay Parkrun Facebook page*](https://www.facebook.com/BettysBayparkrun) The *Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds: the Mouse-Free Marion (*[*MFM*](https://mousefreemarion.org/)*) Project*marked World Albatross Day (WAD2026) and its theme of “[Habitat Restoration](https://www.acap.aq/world-albatross-day/wad2026-habitat-restoration)” in South Africa on 19 June with a suite of activities in [Betty’s Bay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty%27s_Bay).  Three members of the [Mouse-Free Marion Runners](https://mousefreemarion.org/the-mouse-free-marion-mountain-walkers-sponsors-a-hectare-on-its-inaugural-outing/#iLightbox[gallery23717]/0) group drove the 100 km from Cape Town to the coastal village along False Bay’s spectacular [Clarence Drive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Drive) to meet up with long-time MFM Project ambassadors and local residents [Chris Jones](https://science.uct.ac.za/fitzpatrick/chris-jones-0) and [Michelle Risi](https://science.uct.ac.za/fitzpatrick/michelle-risi) on the afternoon of World Albatross Day.  Chris and Michelle have recently registered at the University of Cape Town for PhDs, with Chris studying climate-change impacts on albatrosses breeding on Marion Island and Michelle studying the demography of giant petrels*Macronectes* spp. on several sub-Antarctic islands, including Marion where they are threatened by introduced House Mice.  Back in 2019, Michelle first proposed to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels ([ACAP](https://www.acap.aq/)) that it hold a [World Albatross Day](https://www.acap.aq/world-albatross-day/introduction-to-world-albatross-day), now in its seventh year. *![Stony Point](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/People/Stony_Point.jpeg)Defying the wind.  From left: Chris Jones, Michelle Risi and John Cooper, MFM News Correspondent, at the Stony Point penguin colony – in our MFM activity shirts* The whole African Continent (and its coastal islands) supports no breeding albatrosses, so the first stop to mark “WAD2026” was a visit to the [Stony Point Nature Reserve](https://www.capenature.co.za/reserves/stony-point-nature-reserve) where [Critically Endangered African Penguins](https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/african-penguin-spheniscus-demersus) *Spheniscus demersus* breed on the mainland.  Honorary albatrosses, if you will!  The friendly Cape Nature ranger on site took the required photo with a MFM Project pop-up banner on display.  Following this outing we got out of the wind to sample what is becoming a global phenomenon marking World Albatross Day – an “albicake”! *![Bettys Bay albicake 2](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/People/Bettys_Bay_albicake_2.jpeg)Michelle Risi decorated her home-baked “albicake” from her own photo of an*[*Endangered Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross*](https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/atlantic-yellow-nosed-albatross-thalassarche-chlororhynchos)Thalassarche chlororhynchos*on Gough Island, photograph by John Cooper* We were joined for tea ‘n cake by MFM Runners (and [MFM fund raisers](https://www.givengain.com/champion/jeremy-george-280610)), Jeremy George and Erica Leppan.  A most pleasant way to celebrate the seventh World Albatross Day, first held in 2020. *![Bettys Bay albicake 3](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/People/Bettys_Bay_albicake_3.jpeg)Michelle, along with husband Chris, cuts her cake for afternoon tea; there were also “albicupcakes”, photograph by John Cooper* Befitting a running group, the next morning we participated in the 348th holding of [Betty’s Bay Parkrun](https://www.parkrun.co.za/bettysbay/).  Held in the [Harold Porter National Botanical Garden](https://www.sanbi.org/gardens/harold-porter/), the 5-km fun run must be one of the most spectacular in the country with its up and down sections among indigenous vegetation, including flowering proteas. *![Park Run 1](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/People/Park_Run_1.jpeg)“All shout Albatross!” Moments before the parkrun got underway, photograph by Jeremy George* With MFM Project’s pop-up banners on display and after a few introductory words to the 223 assembled runners about the MFM Project (and the obligatory shout of “Albatross!”) the parkrun got underway. *![Park Run 6](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/People/Park_Run_6.jpeg)Erica Leppan and John Cooper attempt to fly like an albatross in their MFM active shirts on one of the parkrun’s gradual climbs, photograph by Andrea Angel* *![Park Run 3](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/People/Park_Run_3.jpeg)Some of the MFM Runners celebrate after the parkrun.  From left: Michelle Risi, John Cooper,*[*Emeritus Professor Peter Ryan*](https://mousefreemarion.org/introducing-professor-peter-ryan-chair-of-the-mouse-free-marion-projects-scientific-and-technical-advisory-group/)*(who chairs the 50-member*[*MFM Scientific and Technical Advisory Group*](https://mousefreemarion.org/mfm-scientific-and-technical-advisory-group/)*(behind), Andrea Angel, Manager of*[*BirdLife South Africa’s Albatross Task Force*](https://www.birdlife.org.za/what-we-do/seabird-conservation/what-we-do/albatross-task-force/)*and Chris Jones, photograph by Jeremy George* *John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 06 July 2026*