It may be wet and windy across the UK today, but there is plenty of Wildlife to see in wild Wales!
The recent winds have brought thousands of Manx Shearwaters past the reserve and even the occasional Balearic Shearwater! We've also had numerous Gannets flying by and even diving right in front of Ellins Tower! Usually diving Gannets have also meant surfacing Harbour Porpoise which has had many of the visitors in a whirl of excitement! We're hoping we may have a variety of Skua pass us by too as there were reported sightings of both Long-tailed and Arctic Skua off the north of Anglesey. There's also been an unconfirmed sighting of a Leatherback Turtle just a few bays down, which doesn't sound ludicrous considering the number of Leatherbacks visiting Cardigan Bay this year.
Another nice surprise for the reserve is that we have a healthy population of Hay-scented buckler ferns, 1066 in total, which are only found in one other locality on the island! This really is a gem of a reserve, we have a plant found nowhere else in the world, at least two very rare species of plant, a thriving seabird colony, a successful (and growing!) Chough population, Cetaceans offshore, amazing passage migrants, Lizards, Adders, the list goes on!
So if, when I wake up tomorrow, the sun is not yet shining, at least I know I'll see another wonder of South Stack!