RSPB Ramsey & Grassholm Islands Blog

Sadly it's been another week of fairly rough weather and it looks like the same for the rest of the week with some big swells coming in. So our first landing of the year will most likely be delayed by at least a week! However, in between the rain showers we have been treated to some glimpses of sunshine and the odd double rainbow or two. View looking South from Carn Llundain © Alys Perry. Rainbow over St Davids Head  © Alys Perry. Both ends of the double rainbow © Alys Perry. Very boggy and flooded fields much like most of the Island right now © Alys Perry.  This week saw the arrival of 4 new Ramsey residents... the chickens. Our beloved elderly Island chicken Sylvie who came off with us at the end of the season has now returned with 3 new friends. Sylvie spent the winter at Nia's family farm quarantining with the other hens so we thought it was about time she had some company. So welcome Kelpie, Wasabi, and Chee Chee to Ramsey! The chickens safely stowed in their crate ready t

 Another week has flown by on Ramsey. It's been a rather damp few days with big swells, high winds, and plenty of rain. Many of the paths and fields have turned into mini ponds and our rain gauge recorded 19mm of rainfall on the 12th of March alone! The South end between rain showers © Alys Perry.  Flooded areas in the Central Fields  © Alys Perry.   We are opening on the 25th of March this season due to the early Easter holidays. Despite the bad weather, we have been preparing the island for visitors which has involved ordering new stock for the shop, tidying and cleaning the shop, clearing the harbour steps of seaweed, and cleaning out the compost toilets (a favourite job of the week!), painting and varnishing the trail signs and replacing and updating some old visitor notices. We had an exciting arrival on the 17th when Chris (Nia's partner) and Griff (the island sheepdog) returned to the island for the season after spending the first few weeks of March on the mainland. It w

We are now back for the 2024 season with the same island team but with a new site for the blog. After various technical difficulties with the blog last year we have decided to try blogspot instead. Abermawr at sunset © Alys Perry. Like the birds myself and Nia migrated to warmer climates over the winter. Nia spent her winter visiting the Seychelles where she previously worked and I spent several weeks in Ecuador helping with rainforest bird research in the Andes. Although the island was uninhabited over the winter we still conducted our winter checks whenever we could and lucky we did as Derek discovered a large landslide just above the island harbour on the 7th of January. The landslide completely covered the track leading up the farmhouse, making it impassable and took out the harbour fencing. Thankfully the weather was settled so myself, Derek, Greg & Jack managed to transport a mini digger to the island to clear it. Jack & Derek did a great job of this and by the end of the