Here is the next part of the review of 2013 on Ramsey Island, following on from part 1 (see earlier blog post)

In keeping with the rest of the country Ramsey experienced some extreme weather in this period. April 2013 was the coldest on record with sub zero temperatures at the start of the month. The period April to June was also the coldest on record and the driest. Not ideal conditions for lambing.....

Lambing allows…

Here are a few video clips of the Bitches and The Axe in today's storm

www.youtube.com/watch

The Bitches about 2.5 hours before hide tide

www.youtube.com/watch

Another one of the Bitches about an hour nearer to high tide (but still around 1 hour away) - light fading and salt spray getting to camera by now!

�

www.youtube.com/watch

Short clip of The Axe

www.youtube.com/watch

A slightly longer (3 mins) video…

This storm has topped all the others so far this winter in terms of wind speeds. It was at it's peak around 2pm-3pm with force 11 winds gusting force 12 at times (80-90 mph at least). It was near impossible to stand up but we managed to find a few spots where we could safely tuck ourselves in and get some photos and video.

Ramsey Sound was a maelstrom of swirling foam. In 8 years on the island we've never seen anything…

Yet another storm battered us yesterday with force 10 winds. To make a change from the usual still photos of the harbour we've been posting, here are a couple of videos instead! I promise these will be the last!

Despite the hammering we got we once again managed to get away without any damage to buildings

www.youtube.com/watch

www.youtube.com/watch

And here is a still shot of the west coast yesterday morning…

It's like groundhog day out here at the moment! Today saw more storm force winds and another very big swell in the harbour this morning.

A cargo ship, Olympic Light, on its way from Swansea to Ireland took refuge in Ramsey Sound. Easily the largest vessel we have seen anchored there. She is due to be there until 9am tomorrow morning so I hope she is ok on the high tide tonight.

The Bitches are under there…

These type of photos are becoming a common feature of 2014 so far. This morning it was blowing a SE force 9. Coupled with a high tide of 7.61m it made for quite a scene in the harbour

The harbour wall was built in the 1930's by Captain Whitehead the then owner of the island. He owned the Whiteheads steel works that were present across south Wales and put his engineering skills to the test out here.

The wall revolutionised…

With the first month of 2014 almost over here is a brief look back at 2013. Part 1 covers January to March

January 2013

New years day dawned bright and cold on Ramsey but rain was to be the feature of the month with below average temperatures. We even had a rare covering of snow on 19^th. Strong to severe gale force winds were frequent especially towards the end of the month so fitting in work that involved the island boats…

Yesterday was the first 'nice' day (they are all nice out here really!) since our return. Derek delivered a consignment of hard feed for the sheep and with no crane at the moment (still in the workshop being repaired) it was a good workout to start the day!

Derek on way over - the sea was the calmest it has been in over a month

After that we headed off to feed the sheep. Our Welsh Mountain ewes need a hel…

With another storm raging we went to inspect our beleaguered and battered buildings at  St Justinians this morning and managed to get these couple of shaky videos. They go a long way to explaining why the damage occurred during the 3rd Jan storm! There has been no chance to do any repair work since and little point knowing this next one was on it's way. Things are due to settle down from Wednesday so we hope to get back…

With a barrage of Atlantic storms continuing to batter west Wales, our New Year return to Ramsey looks somewhat delayed. We gaze across at the island each day but each day our chances of getting anywhere near her seem slimmer then ever.

Early this morning the full force of a deep depression, storm force winds and a high spring tide caused chaos at St Justinians. The storm surge ripped the big heavy wooden doors off…

We would like to wish all our blog readers, visitors, volunteers and Friends of Ramsey a very happy Christmas and new year. Thank you all for reading our posts in 2013!

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in 2014. The blog will take a break for a couple of weeks but we will be back with updates from the island early in January

Ramsey from St Davids Head on a cold winters day

At the end of the summer we usually put the sheep down the south end of the island for a couple of months. This allows the northern pastures to ‘have a break’ and by keeping them off it for around 3 months allows the worm burden to drop significantly which means we use less chemical wormer through the year which is better for our dung and soil invertebrates which are a key component of the chough’s diet…

Whilst putting out some more shearwaters boxes this morning we were treated to some wonderful sky-scapes (if that is a word?!) along the NE coast of Ramsey. See below for a selection:

Looking across at Carn Llidi from the NE coast of Ramsey

Rainbow over mainland Pembrokeshire

Looking south to the Bitches with a rain shower sweeping across St Brides Bay

Lisa and I spent the morning digging in the first of our Manx shearwater nest boxes. They were built earlier this year by some of our very handy volunteers, Dave Gadd, Geoff Hickman, Steve Bool and Mike Bates. The design is based on those used in NZ that we had the pleasure of seeing first hand last winter – thanks to Shane Cotter who works on Fluttering shearwaters on Matiu / Somes Island in Wellington Harbour…

Following on from the last blog which showed the status of breeding birds on Ramsey in 2013, this blog will compare the situation with 40 years ago in 1973. The data in 1973 was compiled by the late Shaun White who was RSPB warden on Ramsey in that period. The island was not owned by the RSPB back then but the private owner allowed RSPB to have a seasonal warden on site from March to October.

In summary, there were 39…

Every year we monitor the breeding bird species on the reserve. Most species are monitored annually but some seabirds are done on a cyclical basis. Here are the results of the 2013 breeding season (with 2012 figures in brackets)

In 2012 there were 39 species that bred on Ramsey and the Bishops and Clerks (a small string of islets off the NW coast that form part of the reserve)

Fulmar 227 pairs (284 in 2012) – productivity…

We took advantage of the lovely crisp morning, the first we have seen in a long long while(!), to get some deliveries across.

A panoramic shot across to the Pembrokeshire mainland this morning

Derek took the opportunity to launch his new boat, replacing the excellent 'Cwch Coch' that had served him well for the past 7 years. The old boat had seen some action, from delivering anything from post through to gas…

Back in the summer we had a fun day making this video with Luke and John from Monkey Missions.  The aim of the film was to show the importance of our marine environment from an ecological, educational and socio-economic viewpoint with Ramsey Island as the example. It was shown today at the Senedd in Cardiff to an audience of AM's and other policy makers at event called 'Valuing The Marine Environment' 

The children…

Yesterday saw the windiest day of the autumn so far and was up there with some of the wildest days we have experienced out here. Winds reached storm force 10 in the afternoon gusting around 80mph. Amazingly no damage was sustained by any of our buildings, testament to the people who first chose these locations to site the original structures.

The sea was spectacular as these series of photos plus a couple of videos s…

A stiff WNW wind saw Lisa and I take turns on an early morning seawatch at the hide on the north end. The totals from our few hours staring out to sea were

Great northern diver - 3 (first of autumn)

Great skua - 6

Arctic skua - 3

Manx shearwater - 9 (will these be the last we see this year?!)

Common scoter - 24

Black-headed gull - 44

Mediterranean gull - 4 (2 ad winter, 2 1st winter)

Gannet - 250+

Auks (mainly…

Regular readers of this blog will know that around this time of year we try to get out to Grassholm to cut free young gannets that have become entangled in marine debris during the season. These birds are ready to fledge but are tethered to their nests by man made plastics, mainly fishing line and rope. Grassholm, home to 40,000 pairs of gannets, groans under the weight of generations of plastic that has been added to nests…

For the past 8 years Dr Steve Votier formally of Plymouth University and now based at the University of Exeter has been carrying out research on RSPB Grassholm Island.  The reserve, which we manage from here on Ramsey Island, lies 7 miles off the Pembrokeshire coast and is home to the 4^th largest northern gannet colony in the world at just under 40,000 pairs

Grassholm from the air in 2009 (photo: S Murray)

Part of the…

 Another early start saw us out of the door by 07:30 to try and record visible migration. At this time of year birds are on the move, either leaving the UK, arriving here or just passing through. RSPB colleagues had organised for staff at reserves across the county to coordinate a timed 3 hour watch this morning and report back with our findings. Never one to miss an opportunity to pick up my binoculars I was happy to…

A distinct chill in the air today with the wind going round to the North and the night time minimum dropping below 10c for the first time this autumn. I decided to give seawatching a go so was up at sunrise to haul myself and the dog up to the hide on the NW tip. It was a slow walk into a force 7 wind but a stunning one all the same

sunrise over the Pembrokeshire mainland

These 2 chough had beaten us to it and were…

You get to fly around as an adult for just a couple of weeks, humans run around the house trying to batter you with the newspaper and everything in the natural world wants to eat you!

But the huge numbers which have emerged on the island over the last few weeks should ensure that plenty get to reproduce before their short adult lives are over. This is obviously important for the Crane-fly population but it also essential…