Walking the Lleyn Coast Path

Spring Squill on the cliff edge

May and June are great months to walk along the Lleyn coast. In May, slopes and streamsides the sheep can’t reach are carpeted with primroses, thrift and spring squill. Scrubby patches and gorse along the cliff edges are good for breeding whitethroats and stonechats, while the short well-grazed turf attracts migrant wheatears and feeding choughs. Other migrant birds along the coast include whimbrel on their way to Iceland or NW Russia (we saw 115 between Porth Ysgaden and Porth Dinllaen on May 8^th) and noisy Sandwich terns fishing close in. And when the sun comes out so do the butterflies – wall browns, small heaths and common blues.

Ynys Enlli from the tip of Lleyn

Our longest stretch so far this year was 10 miles from Porth Oer (Whistling Sands) to Aberdaron, right round the headland facing Ynys Enlli (Bardsey). We sat and ate lunch looking across to Bardsey, a sort of funny reverse experience for us!

Llyn Coastal Bus

One problem facing the coastal walker is how to get back to where you started – unless you are carrying a tent, of course. Walking the Lleyn Coastal Path in stages is much easier this year because of a special Minibus service for walkers. On four days each week until the end of October, a minibus runs every two hours from Abersoch to Aberdaron and  on to Nefyn, with a second vehicle doing the opposite. The fare is £1, and the driver will pick up or drop off passengers at any point on the coast the minibus can reach.

So if you enjoy walking on the coast of Wales, make sure you get to Lleyn this year, as who knows if the minibuses will continue in 2017. And as you walk along the path, remember to thank the National Trust and the Welsh Government for making the coast so accessible.

Over-wintering on Welsh Islands

Here in North Wales we probably think we’ve had it pretty rough over the Christmas period, with roads flooded and closed, railways closed (Bangor to Holyhead a few days ago, Conwy Valley line closed for weeks to come) and difficult driving conditions.

Spare a thought then for those hardy souls spending the winter on two offshore islands, Ramsey and Bardsey (Ynys Enlli). Life on offshore islands is never easy, but at least staff on islands without livestock, such as Skomer and Skokholm, are able to leave for the mainland in early winter.

You can read about the adventures of Greg and Lisa Morgan on their Ramsey blog on the RSPB website. In addition to pictures of the little harbour being pounded by the gales 3 days ago and at the end of November, you will find out about the tidal turbine which was installed in Ramsey Sound in mid-December (in a calm spell!). To see how Lisa and Greg have coped over various winters, you can read their blog back to 2010.

The situation on Bardsey is a bit more complicated. The Porter family have been living on Enlli since 2007, but by October last year both children were away at University in Falmouth (some way away....). They were due to come back for Christmas, by which time when the island should have had another two new residents: Sian Stacey and her partner Mark Carter. Mark has been Assistant Warden at the Bird Observatory for several years, and Sian is the new Island Manager for the Bardsey Island Trust. Sian and Mark were all set to arrive at the start of December, but had to wait on the mainland until 27^th when the weather relented and Colin Evans was able to take them and the young Porters across.

You can read Sian’s blog about their adventures at http://bardseyislandlife.blogspot.co.uk, and see pictures of the whole gang bathing in the Cafn on January 1^st. Let’s see how they cope with the next three months!

My pictures taken at the end of September show that life on Bardsey can be easier, at times.

Cattle returned to the island in September

A September sunset looking towards Ireland 

Geoff Gibbs

Crossing the Sound to Bardsey (Ynys Enlli)

If you have ever crossed the Sound, or are planning to do so, you’ll be delighted with ‘Across the Sound’. It is the Bardsey Island Trust’s first-ever Yearbook, covering events on Enlli in 2013. It is fully bilingual of course, with lots of excellent photographs including a centre-spread (pages 42-43) of all the islanders (numbering 15); these include the Observatory staff, the Porter family at Ty Pellaf, Christine and Ernest Evans (Rhedynog Goch), their son Colin (the boatman) and his daughter Gwen. There are also three dogs in the photo, but don’t delude yourself that you can take your dog with you if you visit – these dogs are resident!

Different chapters cover topics such as recollections of the years since the Trust’s creation in 1979 (Christine Evans), the farming year (Jo Porter), the Carreg Fawr Project (restoring the paintings which Brenda Chamberlain applied directly to the interior walls of this house), thoughts on Retreats and the spiritual life of the island (Rev’d Susan Blagden) and the work of the Bird and Field Observatory (by Steve Stansfield, in his 16th year as Observatory Warden!). Emyr Roberts, the Trust’s Warden on the island, retired at the end of the 2013 season and there is an appreciation of his work. If you wish to obtain a copy, go to http://www.bardsey.org/english/shop/shop.htm

If you do buy one, it will encourage the Trust to produce another next year. There is of course limited information about happenings each year from 1953 recorded in the Observatory Annual Reports, and in the newsletters and Reports of the Trust since 1979, but these Yearbooks (if continued) will build up into an impressive archive.

Lifetime Award for North Wales Naturalist

I was delighted to be present last week for a very special event, when Iolo Williams presented Peter Hope Jones with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Welsh Ornithological Society. Peter has made a major contribution to Welsh ornithology, over at least 50 years. Way back in 1960 he was Warden at Newborough Warren NNR, just when the conifers were growing up and Montagu’s Harriers were nesting. Later he worked for the Nature Conservancy in Meirionnydd, carrying out bird surveys in the mountains as well as looking after National Nature Reserves in the area.

He has had a lengthy involvement with Bardsey and its Bird Observatory; his book ‘The Natural History of Bardsey’ published in 1988 remains the best account of the island and its wildlife. He is an excellent photographer and this book is illustrated with his own photographs. And we mustn’t forget his latest, and largest, book – the bilingual ‘Birds of Anglesey’ by Hope Jones and Whalley, published in 2004.

The presentation took place in Peter and Joan’s small house in Menai Bridge, not the previously selected venue on Church Island which Peter visits nearly every day. Earlier sleet had encouraged the group to remain indoors.

Natur Cymru autumn edition - out mid September

Artwork by Guy Manning

50 Years Ago – National Nature Reserves then and now – Mike Alexander. The legacy of the last five decades

A Living Wales? – Mick Green.

Will a new approach to conservation bring real benefits for wildlife?

A little bird told me – Merlin Evans. The perils of feeding the birds

Stackpole – A treasure trove for grassland and duneland fungi – David Harries. An island of fungal gems!

Sand dunes on the move – John Ratcliffe. The benefits of natural sand dune processes

The sand dunes of Pembrey Burrows – Simeon Jones. Recent restoration in Carmarthenshire

Seaweedy seascapes – Francis Bunker. A tour of underwater pastures

Hen lwybrau a ffyrdd porthmyn – Twm Elias. Allweddau i ddeall y tirlun

Inspired by Nature at Dinefwr – Natur Cymru writing competition winners

·     The Hawk moth effect – Chris Kinsey

·     How I fell in love with the frog lady – John Harold

Ynys Dewi – Ramsey Island: time to take stock – Lisa Morgan. Seabird populations and the rat eradication programme

Falling apples – painting a picture of Welsh orchards – Andrew Micah Green.

Findings of the Gwent Orchards Project survey

Discoveries in Science – Teresa Darbyshire. Marine collections supporting research in Wales

Islands round-up – Geoff Gibbs. Bardsey: diary of a visit in July

Green Bookshelf – Hywel Roberts, Annie Haycock

NATUR – Mike Alexander. News from the Welsh Institute of Countryside & Conservation Management

Water environment – Gareth Farr. Groundwater animals – the stygobites of Wales

Woods and forest – Chris Tucker. New Ancient Woodland Inventory is launched

Bardsey birds and their SatNavs

Baby manx shearwater

Bardsey is beautiful and so are the birds; I’ve never been so close to puffins.‘If I drive straight up, they fly off’, said Colin the boatman, as we reversed up to them. On land I was lucky enough to meet someone monitoring the manx shearwaters. Like a magician, he put his hand into what looked like a rabbit hole, and carefully pulled out a large grey ball of fluff. ‘The parents have just the one chick and soon it will fly 7,000 miles to Argentina’. 

We climbed to the top of the cliff overlooking Aberdaron and Uwchmynydd. Our main interest was the kittiwake colony below but I couldn’t help be distracted when a squadron of attention-seeking choughs screamed past at eye level. Across Britain kittiwakes have declined by 30% in the past 10 years but here in Wales they seem to be holding their own.

John Clark, marine policy officer for RSPB Cymru, explained the project to attach GPS devices to the kittiwakes. The gadget records data for 3 days and, when downloaded, is used to produce maps – the one I looked at showed the bird to be feeding several miles out, mainly to the southwest. 

On the razorbills they are also attaching TDR gadgets where D stands for depth. Through these they can monitor not only where, but how deep, the birds are diving.

The output of the research, which feeds into FAME (Future of the Atlantic Marine Environment), a much wider project spanning the Atlantic coast of Europe, will help inform us when we make decisions on developments at sea. Not guesswork nor assumption but science and painstaking monitoring over many years – we can’t afford to get this wrong.

Right now decisions are about to be made about Marine Conservation Zones around the Welsh coast. Colin’s hoping that Bardsey waters will not be one of them, as that would scupper his lobster business. He believes his activities are sustainable and can live side by side with conservation.

Apart from the wildlife you’d expect we also had a rare sighting of the BBC Countryfile team as they filmed the family that lives and farms on the island. 

For more information about Bardsey (Ynys Enlli), and details of how to get there, take a look at the website for the Bardsey Island Trust.