As I write this it's nearly a full week since we last saw a visitor boat! The settled weather of April is a distant memory as low pressure has dominated the first 10 days of May. Today saw gusts in excess of 50 mph and the west coast looked like a scene from Autumn.
There has been plenty to get on with however . See blogs from our aptly named regular volunteer Pete Ramsey and reserve assistant Amy to see what they have been up to this week
The spring flowers are starting to catch the eye and remind us it is still spring. Bluebells, thrift, sea campion and spring squill are kicking off proceedings - it won't be long before bird's foot trefoil, sheeps bit and foxgloves add to the colour
Bluebells are possibly a throwback to the days when trees survived on Ramsey. Today they compete with the bracken, flowering in May in an attempt to beat the all pervading canopy that will engulf them.
Spring or vernal squill also flowers in May and is a good indicator species in maritime heath and maritime grassland. It is particularly good this year with some parts of the island carpeted
A good showing of spring squill on the west coast
We are still waiting for our first guillemot egg of the season but the last few days have not been conducive to searching! Skomer have had their first egg so I'm sure ours are there or thereabouts. Sometimes they lay in late April, other years it can be up to mid May
Lisa searching for guillemot eggs on the cliffs of Glyma - Dewi has seen it all before!.....
No photo of our best bird of the week. A female subalpine warbler was seen briefly by Lisa and myself on Thursday evening. It flew out of our garden and skulked around in bramble and gorse giving fleeting glimpses for 5 mins before vanishing! It is the 5th record for Ramsey, 4 of which have been since 2006.
The forecast looks to be settling down from around Tuesday with high pressure building back in. Good news all round!
Congratulations to Morgan from Thousand Islands Expeditions on passing his MCA exam and being awarded his skippers ticket. Visitors may know Morgan as the ever informative crew member on the Gower Ranger. Well now he will be skippering the boat that brings you over to Ramsey!