September and October can often bring some interesting birds when migration is in full swing. Although this year (so far!) hasn't hit the highs of 2013 when western Bonelli's warber and booted warbler were logged we have had a good run in the last week. Luckily for us our garden is quite a good spot as it offers some handy cover for birds in the form of several willow trees and various bushes (there is also a small olive…

Seal pups are being born all over the island’s beaches this week as we near peak season for pup births here in Pembrokeshire. With between 600 and 750 pups born on Ramsey each autumn there is never a better chance of witnessing a cow giving birth for yourself.

This one gave birth on the little beach under the farmhouse on Saturday; luckily I was in the harbour and spotted her in labour, clearly experiencing strong…

No two days are ever the same out here. There were no visitors today due to a stiff northerly meaning the boat could not run but we were far from idle! In fact it turned into a very varied day......

We began by getting the sheep in. With this continued mild weather and flies still active we decided to treat them with a blowfly repellent now that their fleeces are starting to grow back. This should see them through to…

Ramsey is one of the most important breeding locations for Atlantic Grey Seals in the Irish Sea and the Southwest of Britain. Between 600 and 750 pups are born on the island’s beaches and in our caves each year. Must pups are born in September and October although some early pups are born in August and late pups can be born up until Christmas.

We have been regularly photographing individual seals here since 2007…

The calm, settled weather of late accompanied by mainly easterly winds has brought high hopes of something good turning up now that the migration season is upon us. We haven't lived up to the highs of last September yet but today saw a good variety of migrants including:

Black redstart - 1

Whinchat - 1

Garden Warber - 1

Willow warbler - 38

Chiffchaff - 3

Goldcrest - 7

Grey wagtail - 1

White wagtail - 2

Wheatear…

In 2014 Dr Matt Wood from University of Gloucestershire spent several night on Ramsey looking for possible new storm petrel sites. This diminutive seabird was first recorded breeding here as recently as 2008 when 5 pairs were discovered at a site on the island's rugged west coast. New nest sites have been discovered in that area in the intervening years and the population is probably in the region of 10-20 pairs altogether…

After our planned trip to Skokholm this weekend was cancelled due to the forecast, Lisa and I decided to head down to south Pembs anyway to revisit some old haunts. A night in the Lobster Pot in Marloes was followed by an 8am start for a trip over to Skokholm to pick up some guests. Thanks to Kenny from Dale Sailing for allowing us to jump aboard the Dale Princess and at least say a brief hello to Giselle and Rich. All…

In May of this year BSG Ecology deployed a bat detector on Ramsey (along with Skomer and Skokholm) to monitor seasonal variation in bat encounter rates and species diversity on the Pembrokeshire islands

Each week we download the data and send it across to the BSG team. They will analyse it fully later this year and produce a report on their finding in winter 2014/15. I have to admit to being slightly reticent at first…

Just realised it's been 20 days since we last posted a blog! Hopefully this might explain why........

In the 13 years since I started working with seabirds there has been a huge advancement in the technology that allows us to monitor their lives away from the colonies. Until relatively recently we could study them at their breeding colonies but were largely reliant on ringing recoveries to tell us anything about…

It has been a good season for chough on Ramsey. This year we had 9 territorial pairs (8 in 2013) of which 7 went on to nest build and attempt to breed. The other 2 were non-breeding pairs that were establishing a territory for the first time which is encouraging for the future.

Of the 7 breeding pairs, 2 failed at the incubation stage (one to bad weather, the other for unknown reasons but they were first time breeders…

Today has seen some quite extreme weather on the island. After 17 days of no rain we had 40mm of rain in less than 24 hours! (including 10mm in an epic 20 min spell this afternoon!). That is more than we have in the whole of June most years.....

In between the monsoon like conditions we had bursts of brilliant sunshine which made for some fantastic 'sky-scapes'

To illustrate how localised the showers were…

An early start this morning to finish off our seabird counts. And what a sparkling morning it was, calm clear and sunny, absolutely perfect conditions for counting with binoculars from a moving boat.

This year’s counts have been generously sponsored by Thousand Islands Expeditions in St David’s and it was the jet boat Ocean Ranger that picked Amy, Greg and myself up from Ramsey harbour. The aim of the exercise was to…

As well as living and working on Ramsey, Lisa and I are also privileged to look after Grassholm, a tiny 9 ha rock lying 7 miles West of the Pembrokeshire mainland and home to 40,000 pairs of Northern Gannet. It is the RSPB's oldest reserve in Wales being purchased in 1948; at the time it played host to a mere 7,000 pairs. Today it is the 4th largest colony in the world for the species with around 10% of the world population…

In five weeks time Amy and I might be forgiven for not wanting to hear another Manx shearwater for a while! We are about to undertake a project for our RSPB Conservation Science department which will involve repeated playback of male calls, female calls and a mix of the two to 100 study burrows. Shearwaters are difficult birds to census given their nocturnal, burrow nesting habits. Part of the process involves playing…

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…

For the past few nights Amy and I have been out trying to record the calls of Manx shearwaters from their burrows. This is to build up a set of recordings we can use later in the season for a response rate project we are undertaking with our RSPB Conservation Science department.

Manx shearwaters are nocturnal on land, coming back to their burrows under the cover of darkness in an attempt to avoid marauding gulls. Their…

This year will see a new local wildlife tour operator running a series of guided walks on RSPB Ramsey Island

Dave Astins, of West Coast Birdwatching has a wealth of experience of birdwatching in Pembrokeshire stretching to over 26 years.  He will be leading a series of special guided walks on Ramsey this year, and we are delighted to welcome him.  Dave will help you get more from your trip to the island, and his ability…

Typical bank holiday weather returned and after nearly 2 weeks of uninterrupted boats and increasingly settled weather, low pressure is back and with it strong northerly winds that meant no landings on Ramsey today.

We took the opportunity to get our puffin sound system and decoys in place for the season. Puffins used to breed on Ramsey in the 1800's but with the arrival of rats through shipwrecks their days as a breeding…

Ramsey has several shallow ponds in acid rich soils. They are nationally important for some of the UK’s rarest aquatic plants but some are also full of newts. There are no frogs or toads on the island, but the Newts represents the amphibians here and both Palmate and Smooth newts are found in these damp areas.

Although not more than 10cm long, the male palmate newt is relatively easy to identify. They have a thin…

Over the last eight years Dr Steve Votier and his team of researchers from University of Exeter  have been working with us on Grassholm Island. Their work on Gannets has evolved dramatically over this time. Initially we looked at quite basic aspects of the Gannet life-cycle like where our birds spent the winter.

The available technologies have improved significantly. Trackers have become smaller and cheaper and these devices…

With Greg away I find that I have the island all to myself, but don’t worry I’m not short of company. This morning I've already discussed the weather with the dog, politics with the sheep and the price of corn with the chickens!

It’s strange being the only human on Ramsey and with a SE gale blowing the chances of someone turning up and knocking on the door are virtually zero. Mind you that’s exactly what…

Well it's pushing mid March now so I thoughts it high time I got round to completing the review of 2013! Apologies for the delay -we are in a busy period at the moment as Lisa and I get the island ready to welcome visitors from 1st April. The fine weather of late has been very timely and makes all the outdoor jobs much easier and more pleasant!

October 2013

The visitor season drew to an end and the weather was it…

When doing a seal round this afternoon Lisa found a splendid 1st winter Glaucous gull on Porth Lleuog. It was eating a dead shag in among 167 grey seals that were hauled out! Without checking I think it is the first Glaucous gull on Ramsey for at least 8 years

Very similar to Iceland gull it can be told by it's stockier and more 'fierce' look, a well marked bill with a defined black tip and a short primary projection…

Given the winter we are currently having it seems a long time ago when we were experiencing one of our driest summers on record on Ramsey . That this followed our coldest spring goes to show what a year of extremes 2013 was.

July and August see us turn our hand to habitat management work. Bracken is cut and rolled, thistles are pulled (not all of them as they are very good for invertebrates) and in some years ponds are…

A female grey seal rescued from a beach in Cornwall in February 2010 was spotted on Ramsey in 2013, 3.5 years later!

This little cow had a traumatic start to life. At just 3 months old she was spotted on the beach at Perranporth, by a very worried member of the public. She had become entangled in some netting which was causing severe constriction wounds to her neck and around her fore-flippers and belly. Luckily the…