6 Legged Friends

We had some changeable weather this week which stopped us from having boats on Thursday but it cleared up in time for a beautiful weekend for the Coronation. We carried on with our usual monitoring work, checking the Chough nest sites and more breeding bird surveys alongside some admin and welcoming visitors. 

The East Coast of the Island in the sunshine ©  Alys Perry.

The big news of the week is that after 3 years of renovation work Derek has officially finished in the Bungalow!!!! It looks absolutely fantastic! Once it is all tidied up and ready for volunteers next week I will upload the final photos to the blog as the big reveal. Thank you to Derek and all the countless tradesmen who have fitted sockets, windows, and plastered walls over the past 3 years. Your efforts have well and truly paid off and we can't wait to welcome our volunteers back to their new luxury island accommodation. Well done all!!

Another highlight of the week is that our first chough pair on the North Coasts were observed on the 5th removing fecal sacs from the nest site....... which means our first Chough chicks of the season have hatched! And I am sure it won't be long till more start hatching at other sites. We will definitely keep you updated on how they are doing.

© Ben Hall.  

We had a visit from some lovely entomologists and friends this week, Sarah and Phil, who spotted a blue shield bug. This is a fairly widespread species across the UK but Sarah and us were particularly excited because there aren't many NBN records of this species for Pembrokeshire and none for Ramsey! But as Sarah said its an interesting species because "It preys on small Altica flea beetles which are exactly the same colour (Sarah & Phil found these too in the same area), and have adapted to be the colour of its prey; apparently, this is called aggressive mimicry ". A brilliant find by Sarah and Phil! We look forward to seeing you on the Island again and having more features of six-legged friends! Thank you so much both. 

© Sarah Loving. 

Weekly Wildlife Round-Up

We have had an exciting week for migrants this week with more new species being added to the year list. Including Cuckoo and Yellow Wagtail both being recorded on the 2nd. Followed by our first Spotted flycatchers on the 6th.

Spotted Flycatcher sitting on the farmhouse washing line ©  Alys Perry.

7 Whimbrel were also recorded hanging around the Northern end of the Island.

©  Alys Perry.

Our first Red Admiral butterfly of the year was seen on the 4th.

©  Alys Perry.

Alongside our first day-flying moth the Silver Y.

©  Alys Perry.

It seems that now it's starting to warm up and the flowers are appearing so are the invertebrates.

It is feeling much more like spring on the Island as many of the birds appear to be settling down to breed. The farmhouse blackbirds are already in full swing dashing around with mouthfuls of worms feeding their growing chicks.

Until next week.

Alys Perry

Assistant Warden