It’s been almost six weeks now since we arrived on the island and it feels like it’s flown by!  Every day is totally different with all sorts of jobs to do and the weather and tides play a big part in dictating what we do.  It's been very different to my previous job where I was office based (in my spare bedroom) 5 days a week! It's really nice to be active and to spend most of my days outdoors.

Building…

Once again it seems like we have 10 territorial pairs of chough, 9 of which have been confirmed as nest building, the other may just hold territory and not breed - the jury is still out on them. Having spent the last 2 weeks of March prepping their nests deep inside caves and rock crevices, the first two pairs got down to the serious business and began incubating today. 

The female usually lays around 5-6 eggs and she…

I'm often asked what is the most important piece of kit on the island? It's a bit of a catch 22 really as anything I say will in all likelihood have been winched off the boat by the crane. Therefore that must be the correct answer! So the 2nd most important piece of kit? That would have to be the quad bike - it plays a vital part in our farming work but more than that it carries luggage, building materials, shopping,…

It's been a busy couple of weeks as settled weather has meant a lot of outdoor jobs getting done and not much time for blog writing unfortunately! More to come on all that soon but in the meantime this is just a whistle stop update on some of the bird activity of late.

2 red kites have been seen most days since our return and yesterday they were joined by a 3rd. Young, non breeding birds have become a feature of…

A big welcome to our new Ramsey Warden, Nia Stephens! Without further ado I will let her introduce herself.....

*Scroll Down For English* (click on photos to enlarge)

Dyma ni yng nghanol fy ail wythnos yn fy swydd newydd fel Warden Ynys Dewi ac rydw i wrth fy modd i fod yma.  Am fraint i alw’r lle hwn yn gartref i mi!

 Bydd rhai ohonoch yn gwybod nid wyf yn ddieithr i’r ynys.  Ar ôl graddio o’r Brifysgol buais…

Looking at the photos below its hard to think this was just two days ago. As I type this the farmhouse windows are rattling as a gale rages outside. After a week of stunning weather for our first week back on the island, its all change today. With 70mph gusts and 7m swells forecast for tonight into tomorrow morning we decided to lift one of the island boats out of the water and take the other round to Porth Clais and…

The fact it's taken me till Thursday evening to write this given we arrived back last Sunday says something of how busy things have been this week. I've not even unpacked my camera kit yet hence the lack of any bird photos in this post!

The 'we' this year is a new Ramsey team - joining myself (and Dewi of course) is our new Warden, Nia Stephens. Some of you may well remember Nia from when she started her conservation…

Following a short spell on the island in early Jan, then a month of toing and froing to carry out sheep feed and maintenance work, we landed on 5th Feb for a few days of pre season prep. This more prolonged winter stay is planned to coincide with the 'beast from the east' that is forecast as the sheep will need daily feeding during this period. As to how long we will stay out here this time is down to the weather!…

We are currently on the island carrying out some maintenance work and providing daily sheep feeds during this cold spell. It has dropped to 0c for the past 2 nights and looks to be heading that way again. Over the years we have only had Welsh Mountain ewes out here, firstly Glamorgan, then Lleyn and now 'Sennybridge Cheviot'. Settling on the latter was the best decision we ever made. They may be a little more 'wild' but…

The final look at 2020 sees us leave summer behind as we slide into ever shortening days. The once vibrant heathland colours slowly slip into a deep orange, illuminated by classic autumn sunrises, which are at a much more sensible time of day by now! But autumn on Ramsey is dominated by one thing....grey seals!

September

The first seal pup was actually born on 15th July on Cololmennod. This beach always returns the first…

The most noticeable change as we slipped from spring into summer was the demise of the weather! Following the halcyon days of April and May, the driest spring on record on Ramsey, we saw the wettest June with over 100mm (4" in old money) of rain. This was not ideal for our newly fledged chough and house martins. The pendulum swung the other way again in July and August with just 38mm being logged over the two months.…

We all know what sort of a year 2020 was and life on Ramsey was not immune. While we felt very fortunate to have freedom to move around outside, and to work in such a stunning location, while the rest of the country was reduced to 1 hours exercise a day in the first lockdown, we were unable to welcome any visitors to the reserve.

The good news was, with no interaction with the outside world and no need for social distancing…

community.rspb.org.uk/.../3252.1884.6138.Iolo_5F00_Gin_5F00_English.MP4

To purchase any of our conservation gin products go to: StDavidsGin.Wales

We are now in the third year of our partnership with local Pembrokeshire business St Davids Gin, so we’d like to give you a quick update and offer a suggestion or two if you are stuck for Christmas present ideas (spoiler alert: its gin!)

St Davids Gin launched in 2017…

There can sometimes be a 'groundhog' day feeling to November. You scurry around in the meagre daylight on offer to get jobs done outside then attack the emails when it gets too dark to see or your fingers feel like they are about to drop off (not conducive to attacking said emails). Getting those outside jobs done however can be a challenge given typical November weather patterns. But while it may seem like an endless…

The good news is the grey seal pup that was born a week ago on Aber Felin made it through the rough weather of last week and, at 8 days old today, is currently enjoying a much more settled spell of weather.

Below is a video shot 2 days ago - the pup seems to be enjoying his 'tickle' and 'cuddle' from mum but nature rarely does anything without a reason. The 'flippering' action by the cow is often seen as they try and…

The newborn pup I blogged about last time is now 3 days old and has made it through Storm Aiden. Yesterday saw 60mph winds coupled with big spring tides as a result of the full moon. Average wave height on the St Ann's Head weather buoy was around 5m with a peak of 11m! Luckily the south side harbour beach (Aber Felin) where the cow chose to pup extends back far enough to allow both mother and pup to ride out such weather…

....but it's not quite!

Those of you who have been watching BBC Autumnwatch this week will know that the grey seal pupping season is just getting started up on the Isle of May. Down here we are right at the end of our season...or so we thought. In the past 4 days 10 pups have been born on our monitored beaches. This brings the total for the season to an estimated 730 (we count the 9 beaches accurately then use a formula…

It's been quiet on the bird front these past few days with migrants thin on the ground. It was a bit of a surprise this morning to see 3 swallows feeding over the vegetation clad slopes of Aber Myharan, hoovering up the few insects still on the wing, grabbing every last morsel of energy before crossing to France, Spain and eventually sub-Saharan Africa. A willow warbler in the ivy at Ogof Capel was also on the late side…

It's fair to say we've not made it off Ramsey much this season, in fact the furthest I've been since March is Porth Clais in the boat to pick up supplies! So there was a degree of excitement in the air last week when the weather gods played ball to allow us to get to the other reserve we manage from here, Grassholm. Many of you will know that each autumn, once the bulk of the gannets have left for the winter, we head…

The Pembrokeshire Dangler is a weather phenomenon caused by cold northerly air being forced between Ireland and western Britain. As it passes over a relatively warm Irish Sea a line of intense showers form stretching from north Wales to Cornwall, concentrating over Pembrokeshire. It is most commonly experienced in autumn as the sea still retains some of it's summer 'warmth'. Some areas can be under rain for long periods…

A break from the 2020 breeding bird updates to give you a quick 'pupdate'. We recently passed the 700 mark for pups born on Ramsey's beaches and in her caves this year. Numbers of new births are slowing down considerably now but we will still see births into November. Our harbour beach saw 2 new births in the past 24 hours bringing the total born on this tiny pebble beach since September up to 8, the most I can remember…

Continuing our look back at the breeding season just gone, today sees stonechat, linnet and meadow pipit under the spotlight. Half of Ramsey is covered in heathland, a special 'coastal heathland' mix, not quite lowland heath and not quite maritime heath which has puzzled the experts over the years. It's classification is currently under review, but whatever pigeon hole it gets assigned to one thing is sure, it is a vital…

As I sit here on Sunday morning the rain is lashing the NW facing windows as gusts in excess of 55mph batter us from that direction. Not a great time to be a seal pup but this is nothing unusual for October. Over 600 pups have been born so far this season with our next count due tomorrow. No doubt there will be casualties but we are past the peak for births now and they had a storm free September after two named storm…

Yet another Manx shearwater post I'm afraid, but it won't be long before the last few are on their way to Argentina. This video shows the last of our nest box birds. He or she can be seen venturing to the entrance of the tunnel for a peek of the outside world for the first time. He/she then takes the plunge and leaves the sanctuary of their burrow for first time following 60 days cooped up in safety. Vigorous wing exercising…

As we enter the last week of September the vast majority of our Manx shearwater fledglings have left the island and are on their way to the coast of Argentina. It looks to have been a good breeding season, the average weights of the birds in our nest boxes was up on last year and all 9 of the 12 eggs that hatched will get away (8 have now gone with just 1 late hatcher still to go)

The video below shows a nightly ritual…