Saturday the 22nd of June we held a Bioblitz at South Stack. This is a snapshot in time of recordings of all wild life. We had experts and the general public pooling their recordings.
The data was recoded using 'Cofnod'a North Wales Recording Service. Below is an extract from their website and will explain who they are better than I can.
Cofnod is one of four Local Records Centres (LRCs) in Wales and forms part of the first national network of LRCs anywhere in the UK. Our name, which means 'a record' in Welsh, was chosen to reflect the importance of observing and recording wildlife, with the creation of a record being the starting point for all the data we hold. Our task is to bring together all these individual records into a centralised database, allowing us to have better knowledge of the environment in which we live. Our objectives are to provide:
Documents relating to Cofnod, including our policies, can be found in our Library.
Our Team;
From our office in Bangor, our area of interest extends across all North Wales' counties and includes the Snowdonia National Park. This is a large and varied geographic area (6342 km2), with the largest number of protected sites (312 Sites of Special Scientific Interest across 1263 km2 ) of all the Welsh LRC regions. Our region covers a range of semi natural habitats from uplands (including the Snowdonia mountain range), to coastal (over 600 km of coastline), grasslands, woodlands, heathlands, wetlands and freshwater. Many of the habitats, and the species they support, are of international significance. Our region also supports a wide range of geological features, with internationally renowned geological complexes, particularly in North West Wales.
Together with the support of organisations, groups and individual recorders, Cofnod is bringing together the largest range and number of biodiversity and geodiversity data anywhere in North Wales. All this data has been shared freely with us and we employ strict quality standards to ensure that the data we hold is fit for use. Although our focus is mainly on terrestrial species and habitats, we will also accept data for the marine environment and will pass this on to the most appropriate marine data archive.
The weather on Saturday was very sunny but a little windy as you can see by the state of the sea around the light house.
Every good event starts with a welcome and below is Jamie, you could not possibly have a better invitation than this.
Man cannot live by bread alone and neither can our cafe!
Above our milkman.
If you have not tried the cafe at South Stack you are missing more than just a welcome.
Above two of our volunteers preparing for the event.
I went on a joint walk. This was led by Sarah, she was taking anyone wanting an introduction to the reserve. The walk was combined with another who's intent was to observe the spider population. Our spider specialist was Richard Gallon who belongs to the Cofnod data collection service.
Below Sarah points out things of interest down by the tower where there are superb views.
We make our way down towards Ellins tower, Richard brings up the rear with his equipment. This consists of a suction device with a net covering the intake.
Above Richard is busy collecting specimens.
The spider collection is emptied into a tray for Richard to separate and identify. The people on our walk took a great deal of interest in our find.
Sarah was identifying wild flowers for our guests.
Whilst on the walk we could not help but admire the magnificent scenery.
Whist on the path from the tower to the bottom car park I noticed a new seat, I can't help but think that this is a lovely thoughtful thing to do.
Next we are led onto Holyhead Mountain.
From here we make our way back to the Visitor Centre, it is here that the recordings are entered into the data base.
As part of our species collection we had several moth species for anyone interested to view. Later in the day we released these moths. There was one of our junior visitors who was given the opportunity to release one of them.
Above is Alex one of our specialists. We got chatting as you do and it turns out that she was brought up about 5 miles from where I was. I enjoyed talking about my old haunts and I hope that she did.
Also today a large group of bikers turned up at the centre. They were taking part in a bike ride in aid of the McMillan Nurses. The bikers left South Stack at sunset on Saturday and arrive in Skegness on the East coast at sunrise on the Sunday.
For the Bioblitz we had our own collection of cars.
Thats all for now, back soon!