May 5th and 6th was a busy weekend for South stack, people just seemed to come out of the woodwork. I have never seen the car park so full since last summer, from now on for the next several months it will be like this, good,we like to be busy.
PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL MISTAKES ARE FULLY INTENTIONAL (that is my excuse) and there are no prizes for any that are found.
In the morning we had two coaches in from a cruise ship berthed at Holyhead.
Mark our retail manager decided that It was such a nice day that he would put the marquee up and hold an impromptu binocular and scope demonstration.
Children playing behind the tent
I was initially posted to Ellin’s tower, this is the best place on the reserve to observe the sea birds. We have at the moment several thousand Guillemots and hundreds of Razorbills. The Puffins are also preparing nesting sites. We have live camera footage showing a nesting Razorbill, also live pictures of a chough on her nest. On Saturday we had the hatching of her first chick. When the female chough leaves the nest (briefly) we try to see if we can spot how many eggs that she has laid. This is proving difficult as the nest is quite deep.
In case you have not yet paid us a visit below are some pictures showing what goes on inside the tower. We provide binoculars and scopes for the public to use, many of our visitors of course bring their own. Our visitor centre shop carries a wide range of optics to suit all tastes and pockets.
We had lots of visitors to the tower all wanting to see the sea birds, I find it very interesting talking to them, as there are people with a myriad of backgrounds and expertise.
Mark (on the left of the picture) our recruitment officer explaining about the birds.
Please note on some of the pictures I have disguised the faces, especially of the children. It is RSPB policy that we do not show recognizable faces in any of our pictures. I have also blanked car number plates. It is not always easy getting pictures totally devoid of faces, but I do my best.
We have a children's corner in the tower were we provide coloring materials. This corner proves to be very popular. I particularly like to see children taking an interest in the wildlife as they are our future conservationists.
Youngsters looking at our many badges of birds, reptiles, butterflies etc.
Danni one of our resident volunteers showing these children the nesting Razorbill live on camera.
Below some general views from the tower:
One of the best views that I saw today was a couple with their pet dog. They had collected its droppings in a black plastic bag. Even more important they took it away with them, well done!
Meanwhile at the visitor centre Stuart one of our recruitment officers is explaining to someone how to observe the sea birds. Haley our people engagement officer has provided us with a picture of the area. It is great; we can now easily point out how to get to any point on the reserve.
In order to encourage young people to take an interest in wildlife we provide them with plasticized cards containing items that can be seen on the reserve. The items include, lizards, birds, flowers etc. They are usually good at spotting them. This is Stuart discussing their finds.
Last but certainly not least the cafe. I intend to devote a whole blog to them when I can get around to it. I am only usually at South Stack on a Tuesday as a volunteer and take pictures as I travel around the site.
This is Jon our catering manager and Rhian on their way to the bin. There is always a glamorous side to the job? They work extremely hard providing such superb meals for us to enjoy.
One of our Stonechats proudly displaying.
On the 8th of May Mark our recruitment officer noticed that the Spatulate Fleawort was in flower. This plant grows on our reserve and nowhere else in the world.
it will be in flower throughout May why don't you come along and see it along with all of our other treasures.