With the first month of 2014 almost over here is a brief look back at 2013. Part 1 covers January to March
January 2013
New years day dawned bright and cold on Ramsey but rain was to be the feature of the month with below average temperatures. We even had a rare covering of snow on 19th. Strong to severe gale force winds were frequent especially towards the end of the month so fitting in work that involved the island boats was the usual last minute decision affair!
The rare sight of snow on Ramsey - Jan 2013
Spring tides and gale force winds create a hostile harbour making planning deliveries a tricky business
We spend a lot of the winter months either doing paperwork, maintenance work or sheep work. With our 2012 ewe lambs kept separate from the rams on Carn Ysgubor we gathered them up on occasion to check them over. In the photo below Dewi and I had just penned them for worming. Normally we would bring them down to the race in the shed but as they were on the furthest hill we made do with a temporary hurdle pen at the foot of the hill. The sheep are an important element of our chough management work as they keep the grass short and provide valuable dung that is attractive to invertebrates
Our Welsh Mountain ewe lambs gathered for worming. It was a very wet day......
which made for one very wet sheep dog!! (he is a Border Collie despite doing his best in this photo to look like a whippet!)
There is a small herd of red deer on the island numbering around 10-15 animals. They were introduced in the 1970’s and again in the 80’s by private landowners who tried to farm them. As you might expect, not all were caught for removal when the respective landowners left! They are now feral and left to their own devices by and large. In small numbers they are a useful addition to the grazing regime (which benefits chough) and they poach around the ponds which is good for some of our internationally important water plant species.
Part of the small feral red deer herd on Ramsey
February
The month was relatively dry with only 70mm of rain falling and none after 16th. Temperatures were again below average and dropped away towards the month end resulting in frost and ice.
Hedd Davies came over mid month and we gathered all the pregnant ewes in for scanning. Not as easy as it sounds on an island. Hedd’s valuable scanning machine was transported across Ramsey Sound on Derek’s boat and unceremoniously hoisted out by our crane. He then had just over an hour to get the job done before the tide dropped too far to get it out again so we couldn't even offer him a cup of tea at the end!
Sheep being brought into the haggard ready for scanning, The oldest farm buildings date back to the late 1700's and all are in still in use today
Local sheep scanner extrodinnaire Hedd Davies (he makes decent home brew too according to Countryfile!)
We began work on the new volunteer’s bungalow water tank in February. The old tanks were beginning to rust so a new 3,500L plastic tank was delivered along with 5 tonnes of building material to create a suitable concrete base for it. While the crane took the strain lifting it off the boat, our old tractor is not man enough for the job so we had to decant 160 bags of sand and aggregate and 120 concrete blocks by hand in order to transport them up to the bungalow. Unfortunately we don’t have volunteers in winter but it keeps us fit! The boat went off briefly for its annual winter service and came back with some nice new lifting chains to make getting it out of the water in rough weather a simpler and safer option.
Foundations being laid for the new water tank at the volunteers bungalow
March
Like February March was once again dry and the coldest on record out here
No matter how many layers we put on we just couldn't get warm in March!
The cold weather had an impact on our breeding birds with chough very late to get going. Most have usually nest built by the end of March but this year only 3 pairs had started by 31st (normally 7 or 8). Up to 24 birds spent most of the month feeding in large flocks in the near frozen fields, presumably having to keep feeding just to stay alive and hence having no time to think about breeding.
Chough struggled early on in the cold and were very late nest building
The 6 Nations came to an exciting and satisfying conclusion in March and by way of celebration the flag was hoisted from the summit of Carn Llundain! Not sure how many people on the mainland saw it but it was good fun getting it up there!
Back to back 6 Nations wins deserved something special!
The ewes that had scanned as expecting twins in February were split out and taken off in Derek’s boat. Previous experience has taught us that Ramsey is fine for rearing singles but ewes struggle with twins in what is a relatively harsh environment compared to most mainland farms. Derek buys the twins off us each year and lambs them with his own flock so they don’t have far to go. A journey of 1 mile by sea followed by 1 mile of road to be precise! Depending what field Derek has them in we can sometimes see them from the island.
Our ladies expecting twins are taken off in Derek's boat for the short trip to his farm. Conditions need to be flat calm to do this so planned dates are only 'pencilled' in at best!
In March we spend a lot of time getting everything ready for the arrival of our first visitors of the year on 1st April and of course our wonderful volunteers. Everything that can be is painted and cleaned and any winter damage repaired (we leave this job as late as possible or it just gets damaged again!). The harbour steps took a pounding over winter and some of the safety grills disappeared. Derek came over laden with power tools an got to work!
New grills going on the harbour steps to allow passengers to land safely
The first migrant chiffchaff of the year appeared in our bedroom via an open window on 11th. After that weather turned very cold and migration was ‘put on hold’ – we didn’t see another one until 30th.
First migrant chiffchaff of the year....in our bedroom!
Bird and wildlife highlights for Jan-March 2013
The early months are a fairly quiet time on the island bird wise. Highlights were a long staying black redstart that was present for January and most of February, a single short eared owl in early February, a woodcock on 24th January, two jack snipe in mid February, a chiffchaff on 12th February (probably a bird that had been over wintering on the mainland as opposed to an early migrant), a green sandpiper on 24th January and a greenshank on 31st (both very rare winter records out here). The 24th January was a bitingly cold day which saw some impressive winter thrush movement. 145 fieldfare, 65 redwing and 170 song thrush all moved south to try and escape the freezing conditions, along with 110 lapwings heading west. Golden plover were present on the island that day too with 13 appearing from the mainland.
At sea, 13 common scoter went south in January with 4 in February, up to 20 gannet were present offshore in January and large numbers of auks passed by through both months, max of 5,000+/hr on 30th January. A merlin was present though most of February, a pied wagtail on 15th February was the first of the year and ravens were nest building mid month. Lapwings were around the central ponds in small numbers through both months but no signs of displaying by the end of February.
On 9th January a painted lady in our garden (first seen by Derek) turned out to the be earliest ever record for Pembrokeshire!
The only migrants to arrive in March were chiffchaff (11/3), blackcap (30/3) and wheatear (9/3).
Two grey seal pups were born (one in each month) and adult haul out numbers reached 300 on several dates.
Part 2 (April - June) to follow soon......