The last few weeks have been exceptionally quiet in terms of visitors, with only 3 boat landings since the start of October. The weather has been fairly all over the place too meaning a lot of indoor and admin jobs being done. With only a few more weeks left we are slowly winding down for the season and making the most of the quieter periods to get on with some of the end of season jobs.
Griff and Siani joining us to check the fencing and gates around the island © Alys Perry.
One of the main tasks over the last week has been monitoring the Golden Hair lichen on the Western side of island. Golden Hair lichen is a rare species of lichen that is found growing on the Western cliffs of Ramsey. Its a feature of our SSSI and a species of national importance. To monitor this species we have been going out to marked quadrat locations around the island and recording its presence and abundance. We have also been mapping the distribution to see if it has changed over the years around Carn Llundain, so we have spent the last few days walking up and down the hill.
Nia and Siani marking with GPS the location of one of the Golden Hair lichens quadrats © Alys Perry.
Golden Hair Lichen Teloschistes flavicans © Alys Perry.
Weekly Wildlife Round Up
Our seal numbers are starting to drop now as we approach the last few weeks of the pupping season. On the last count we had 83 pups on our 9 study beaches.
We did however have an unexcepted visitor who made themselves at home on the harbour wall after some very high tides overnight on the 2nd. The seal pup did make its way back to its mother on the harbour beach by the afternoon.
Grey seal pup on harbour wall © Alys Perry.
The deer have separated off now into smaller groups ready for the autumn rut. And this lovely stag was grooming himself ready to impress the doe's.
Red deer stag grooming himself © Alys Perry.
The past week or so has felt very autumnal with a lot of the usual garden birds turning up on the island.
We have had records of Blue Tit, Great Tit, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, House Sparrow, Great Spotted Woodpecker and of course Robins.
Female Chaffinch © Alys Perry.
Robin © Alys Perry.
5 House Sparrows seen on the 8th © Nia Stephens.
Goldfinch © Nia Stephens.
A flock of 5 Great tits were seen on the 10th, along with 11 Blue Tits on the 8th and 6 on the 12th.
4 Blue Tits on the 12th © Alys Perry.
Large numbers of Goldcrest seems to be passing through along with plenty of Chiffchaff.
Goldcrest © Alys Perry.
Chiffchaff © Alys Perry.
A single Merlin was seen on the 3rd and the 10th.
Two Redwings were seen in the farmhouse willows on the 12th.
Flocks of Siskin flying over have been recorded daily.
Two Mistle Thrush were recorded flying over on the 8th.
Ringed Plover flying over the Northern fields on the 1st.
Dunlin were recorded on the central ponds on the 10th.
Dunlin © Alys Perry.
Curlew and Greenshank recorded flying over on the 12th.
The Chough roost at Abermawr is still growing with 65 individuals recorded at dusk on the 10th.
A pair of Red Kites were spotted by some visitors on the island on the 9th.
Waxcaps have also been appearing all over the island.
The main ones we have been seeing are Yellow Club, Meadow Waxcap, Splendid Waxcap, Golden Waxcap and Scarlet Waxcap.
Clavulinopsis helvola Yellow Club Waxcap © Nia Stephens.
Splendid Waxcap Hygrocybe splendidissima © Alys Perry.
We also had an exciting record of a Portuguese Man o' War in the Harbour on the 12th. Spotted and photographed by Derek Rees while bringing over our post. An unusual fact about Portuguese Man o' War is that they are not actually jellyfish but are a colonial marine hydrozoan made up of small animals called zooids. They can only survive as part of a colony so they clump together to form one animal. Portuguese Man o' War cannot swim so are often seen in UK waters from September-December when they are blown in by strong winds.
© Derek Rees.
Until next week!
Alys Perry
Assistant Warden
Assistant Warden Ramsey & Grassholm Island