Notable Recent Sightings

29/05 Pink-footed Goose 1, over Welshpool, photo'd on 09/06
01/05 Red-throated Diver 1, Llyn Clywedog
07/02 Whooper Swan 44, Lake Vyrnwy
31/01 Whooper Swan 51, Haimwood, Llandrinio
17/11 Firecrest 2, Castle Caereinion
07/11 Barnacle Goose 1 among Canada Geese, Llyn Coed-y-Dinas
07/11 Hawfinch a few, Lake Vyrnwy, also Bramblings
01/11 Short-eared Owl 1, Cefn Coch Wind-farm
01/11 Great Grey Shrike Gregynog
28/10 Great Grey Shrike Lake Vyrnwy, also 1 on 30th at Eunant
25/09 Gannet 1 juv grounded near Caersws
07/09 Nightjar 1, photographed near Pontrobert
17/07 Quail RSPB Lake Vyrnwy, also heard 20/06 and 08/07
24/04 Long-eared Owl 2, RSPB Lake Vyrnwy
16/04 Purple Heron 1, Cors Dyfi
05/03 Firecrest 1, Lake Vyrnwy
05/03 Short-eared Owl 1, Lake Vyrnwy
14/01 Pink-footed Goose 1, Dolydd Hafren
03/01 Waxwing 20, Meifod; also 5 Welshpool by canal on 01/01. Last: 6 Bwlch-y-Garreg 17/03
   
See Sightings Archive for older records

Saturday, May 01, 2010

Skomer Island the 'Jewel in the Crown'

We are so lucky in Wales to have so many contrasting habitats with an abundance of fascinating wildlife. I love the rolling hills and woodlands of my native mid-Wales but equally I also love our coastline and particularly the Pembrokeshire islands. Last Thursday my wife and I visited Skomer Island which is a national nature reserve managed by the South and West Wales Wildlife Trust. This is about the best time to visit this magical island with its vibrant seabird colonies consisting of razorbills, guillemots, kittiwakes and fulmars, and of course everyone's favorite the comical puffins looking resplendent in their summer plumage and looking all the World like porcelain figurines. We were treated to some good raptors and owls too such as peregrine, little owl and short-eared owl but we missed the hen harrier that another visitor spotted. Grassholm island lay tantalizingly close to the west but yet so far with its immense colony of gannets (39,000 pairs at the last count). There were noisy grey seals on Skomer too hauled up on the beach fasting between feeds and harbour porpoise offshore. Of course Skomer comes alive at night with the eerie calls of the manx shearwaters as they return to their burrows to their breeding partners. You wont see them in the day but as you wander along the paths around the island you may hear the odd one calling from its burrow. The bluebells, for which Skomer is famed, were just bursting through and give it another couple of weeks and these will be a carpet of blue. It is an absolute joy to walk on the path from the old farm to the Garland stone through a mass of colourful bluebells.

So take yourself off to Skomer in the next month or two and experience the island in all its glory.

The 'Dale Princess' departs Martins Haven near Marloes daily ('except Mondays' -but does so on bank holidays) at 10am, 11am and 12 noon returning from 3pm.
For more information visit the following link:-

http://www.pembrokeshire-islands.co.uk/

No comments:

Post a Comment