We are currently on the island carrying out some maintenance work and providing daily sheep feeds during this cold spell. It has dropped to 0c for the past 2 nights and looks to be heading that way again. Over the years we have only had Welsh Mountain ewes out here, firstly Glamorgan, then Lleyn and now 'Sennybridge Cheviot'. Settling on the latter was the best decision we ever made. They may be a little more 'wild' but are the toughest sheep I have known and, being descended from stock that tough it out in the Brecon Beacons, they take Ramsey in their stride (they are easy lambers too and make great mothers)
A bitingly cold NE wind has raged all day but it has remained dry and largely sunny at least, the few showers skirting by out to sea. This has made for some nice sea-scapes as the photos below show.
Bird wise it is relatively quiet on land which is bit surprising. I was expecting winter thrushes, lapwings and golden plovers in this weather but none so far. The guillemots were on their ledges today though, resplendent in their summer plumage. If you closed your eyes, and ignored the temperature it sounded like summer on the west coast. Offshore gannets were feeding in amongst a huge frenzy of over 200 kittiwakes. Tracking work shows that most of these birds are from colonies much further north, some of the kittiwakes as far as Spitzbergen
On Porth Lleuog the usual grey seal haul out is looking impressive with close on 200 animals undergoing their annual moult. On the east side of the island a smaller haul of 50 has formed
Rainbow over Carreg Rhosson - one of the Bishops and Clerks archipelago off the west coast of Ramsey and home to a colony of storm petrels in summer
Heart shaped gap in the clouds? - even the weather loves Ramsey!
7 miles SW of us, Grassholm is peppered by showers. Alive with 36,000 pairs of gannets in summer it lies silent at this time of year
View from Carn Llundain looking north to St Davids Head
Guillemots on their breeding ledges at Trwyn yr Allt - all through the winter birds come ashore on certain days to lay claim to their precious breeding spots. When you have such a small territory to defend in the tightly packed colony it pays to stay vigilant year round
Close on 200 grey seals enjoy a safe, disturbance free beach on which to undergo their annual moult. It may look peaceful but there is constant jostling for space and an uneasy truce with your snoring neighbour