Blogs

The most incredible thunder storm rolled up St Brides bay from the south of Ramsey on Thursday night, watched by hundreds of intrepid spectators on the  Pembrokeshire beaches. Also watching the impending drama were island wardens and volunteers from the relative safety of the farmhouse garden.

The following storm was the most powerful we have ever seen with three forks of lightening discharging into the sea at any one time and sheets of lightening permanently illuminating the sky. New sheepdog Dewi had never experienced a thunderstorm before and had great fun barking at the lightning and then trying to chase the thunder!

Unknown to us in the farmhouse, two of our volunteers up at the bungalow were having a slightly more scary experience. A bolt of lightening had struck the top of Carn Ysgubor in a massive explosion of noise and light. They thought their days were numbered as it sounded as though the bungalow had itself been struck, (which wouldn’t be the first time!) The hill was ablaze, the dry heather succumbing to the intensity of a direct strike. People in St Davids could see the beacon of flames from across the water.

Thankfully, the torrential rain which followed doused the flames, but 24 hours later the burnt area, which is as large as the farmhouse garden was still smouldering. Copious water was applied and the danger is now passed.

Apparently, the island’s southern hill, Foel Fawr, was struck by lightening some years ago and it took a whole week to put the fire and embers out.

A quick update on what has been a really successful season for our breeding choughs. We have eight breeding pairs in 2009, most being at well-used, traditional sites around the island. But this year we also had one site near the harbour being used for the first time since 1975 and the other a brand new site in Aber Mawr.

As I write, six of the eight sites have fledged youngsters, each getting a healthy three or four chicks out of the nest. The new Aber Mawr nest and the harbour pair are still feeding chicks inside their caves, but it will only be a matter of days before they are also on the wing and if the deafening noise of hungry chicks coming from these dark crevices is anything to go by, they will also produce more than one juvenile.

It has also proved to be a very early year for these birds, with our first nest on the south coast, fledging young on 1 June, 16 days earlier than last year.

If you would like to see family groups of choughs, noisy and playful, as the youngsters learn how to fly and feed themselves, Ramsey is a great bet over the next month. These family parties will remain intact for up to five weeks and will then join larger groups of feeding choughs as we head into the summer and autumn months.

Our puffin decoys are finally here and installed in suitable locations around the island! 150 lifesize and very realistic models were hand delivered by the sculptor and artist, Eddie Tycer, in early May and by the end of the month we had deployed them all.

Rats were accidentally introduced to the island in the late 1800’s. Following this, puffins became extinct as a breeding species on the island (the last confirmed record being 1894). Following a successful rat eradication project in 2000 by the RSPB, we have seen Manx shearwater numbers more than double (a small number managed to hang on during the “rat years”) and European storm petrel (re)colonise. Puffins are much harder to attract back as they are gregarious birds and prefer to see other birds already established at a site before making that all important first land fall. The decoys are our attempt to lure the puffins ashore!

On the back of previously successful projects of this nature on Alisa Craig (Scotland) and Eastern Egg Island (Maine, USA) we decided that we had nothing to lose! It is worth a try if it means we can attract puffin back as a breeding species on Ramsey where it rightly belongs.

It may take several years before we see any success, if at all. Puffins do not breed until they are 5 years old and return to their natal colony. However, not all birds can find  room to breed at these colonies and these “overspill” birds must look elsewhere. With a large puffin population on nearby Skomer Island, (c. 8,000 pairs, the largest colony in southern Britain) it is hoped we can pinch a few! These younger, non-breeding birds return to the colonies in late June and July so we will be keeping our eyes peeled over the coming few months!

Breaking news: Our plastic puffins are already attracting attention, from our resident peregrines! One was seen last week to stoop over the decoys, land and then sit in the middle of them, looking slightly confused and somewhat disappointed.