Choughs began nest building on 22 March, eight days later than last year. I suspect the very cold winter meant they weren't in peak condition coming into the season and needed a bit more time to stock up on reserves before they got going. A second pair started building on 23rd; they were diving into the farmyard to collect old dagging wool that was waiting to be cleared away! Most of the other usual pairs are in their territories and over the next week or two we should have them all confirmed as nest building I hope.
There is a daily trickle of wheatears now and the first chiffchaff was seen today. Still no goldcrests. It sounds like they had another tough winter so it remains to be seen how many will pass through Ramsey on migration this year. Still very few stonechats around either - another casualty of the winter perhaps?
Won't be long till lambing now and there are some very heavy looking ewes about. The official first due date is April 6th. Visitor boats start running on the 1st so any early visitors should get to see some of our new born lambs. If you are thinking about coming over we've added some links to the sidebar that might help. One is for our boat operator, Thousand Islands Expeditions, who deal with all the visitor bookings (tel: 01437 721721 or 721686). If you are looking for somewhere to stay, Lisa and I can highly recommend Trefeiddan Cottages (self catering), Pembrokeshire Sheepdogs (both self catering and catered) or Amber Cottage (B&B).
Group of feeding choughs on Ramsey (photo: L Lomax)