Well Chuffed!
24th June 2008
Yesterday I returned to South Stack for the first time in fifteen years. I'd always meant to re-visit at some point, and it wasn't until I went to Anglesey last September for an ephotozine meet that I realised how long ago it had actually been since I was there.
Some things have changed and others not. In 1993 the A55 didn't go as far as Holyhead and I remember the A5 going over what amounted to a causeway. A few more industrial buildings are there too. Leaving Holyhead along the winding narrow lanes to South Stack and it looks pretty much as it did over a decade ago. The lighthouse at South Stack used to be manned many years ago. I remember going on a guided tour around it as a child.
Later it became automatic as have all the lighthouses around the coast, and at the time of my last visit there was no access across to it. That's now changed and you can get across by negotiating a long steep flight of steps. Just remember that you'll need to climb back up again!
The weather the preceding weekend had been one of the windiest in June for a long time, as well as being cold and dull, much more like what would be expected in late October. The Monday couldn't have been better, calm, a light breeze only in the most exposed places, and lots of blue sky. Although it couldn't have been described as hot it was very pleasant.
Before setting out I'd said to myself, 'wouldn't it be great to see a chough'. This is one of the last strongholds of this bird, and last time I did see a pair a long way off, more by chance than anything else.'Won't be that lucky this time' then. Stonechats inhabit the area and I decided that it would be good if I could get a close look at those too. Again,'probably not' I thought. The car park was full on arrival, and as one small space just got stolen by some old brown Range Rover, it was decision time to head to the café above the reserve for some lunch.
After lunch I headed into the reserve along the flat well maintained path. Standing at the top of the cliff looking across the the rock face opposite, I could see hundreds (if not several thousand) of guillemots. There were plenty of birds out on the water too.
More guillemots, razorbills and just two puffins which was a disappointment. A fulmar made its presence known, soaring on the updraughts, over a dozen gannets flew by low across the water, and some cormorants made an appearance. Not to mention herring gulls (with chicks), lesser black back and greater black back gulls.
I then noticed a small black shape at the cliff edge. 'Oh, one of the jackdaws again' I thought. But wait, was that a flash of red? Suddenly, the bird took off and flew a distance away, but it was sufficient for an ID. Well at least I'd seen one. I went off for a wander around and when I got back to the viewing tower I was informed that not only had a chough appeared there, but there was a pair of them! So I waited. And waited a bit more. Patience was rewarded.
Over the period of the next hour and a half, the two choughs would come and go, driving their beaks into the soft earth rooting around for the small grubs and larvae that make up their diet. It was a privilege to see them, and at such close range too. So close at some points that I couldn't fit the whole bird into the frame. Meanwhile, a stonechat momentarily perched on a stone. Oh, I almost forgot the vole that scurried along the cliff edge.
Choughs are birds of these remote and wild places, though even in such places modern farming practices have driven them further and further to the edges of their range. For more information on choughs see the RSPB website. Some choughs have recently re-appeared in Cornwall (it is the official bird of Cornwall). The chough is the rarest crow in Britain – to put this in perspective, there are roughly the same number of breeding pairs of choughs in the UK as there are golden eagles.
Well Choughed!
Some things have changed and others not. In 1993 the A55 didn't go as far as Holyhead and I remember the A5 going over what amounted to a causeway. A few more industrial buildings are there too. Leaving Holyhead along the winding narrow lanes to South Stack and it looks pretty much as it did over a decade ago. The lighthouse at South Stack used to be manned many years ago. I remember going on a guided tour around it as a child.
Later it became automatic as have all the lighthouses around the coast, and at the time of my last visit there was no access across to it. That's now changed and you can get across by negotiating a long steep flight of steps. Just remember that you'll need to climb back up again!
The weather the preceding weekend had been one of the windiest in June for a long time, as well as being cold and dull, much more like what would be expected in late October. The Monday couldn't have been better, calm, a light breeze only in the most exposed places, and lots of blue sky. Although it couldn't have been described as hot it was very pleasant.
Before setting out I'd said to myself, 'wouldn't it be great to see a chough'. This is one of the last strongholds of this bird, and last time I did see a pair a long way off, more by chance than anything else.'Won't be that lucky this time' then. Stonechats inhabit the area and I decided that it would be good if I could get a close look at those too. Again,'probably not' I thought. The car park was full on arrival, and as one small space just got stolen by some old brown Range Rover, it was decision time to head to the café above the reserve for some lunch.
After lunch I headed into the reserve along the flat well maintained path. Standing at the top of the cliff looking across the the rock face opposite, I could see hundreds (if not several thousand) of guillemots. There were plenty of birds out on the water too.
More guillemots, razorbills and just two puffins which was a disappointment. A fulmar made its presence known, soaring on the updraughts, over a dozen gannets flew by low across the water, and some cormorants made an appearance. Not to mention herring gulls (with chicks), lesser black back and greater black back gulls.
I then noticed a small black shape at the cliff edge. 'Oh, one of the jackdaws again' I thought. But wait, was that a flash of red? Suddenly, the bird took off and flew a distance away, but it was sufficient for an ID. Well at least I'd seen one. I went off for a wander around and when I got back to the viewing tower I was informed that not only had a chough appeared there, but there was a pair of them! So I waited. And waited a bit more. Patience was rewarded.
Over the period of the next hour and a half, the two choughs would come and go, driving their beaks into the soft earth rooting around for the small grubs and larvae that make up their diet. It was a privilege to see them, and at such close range too. So close at some points that I couldn't fit the whole bird into the frame. Meanwhile, a stonechat momentarily perched on a stone. Oh, I almost forgot the vole that scurried along the cliff edge.
Choughs are birds of these remote and wild places, though even in such places modern farming practices have driven them further and further to the edges of their range. For more information on choughs see the RSPB website. Some choughs have recently re-appeared in Cornwall (it is the official bird of Cornwall). The chough is the rarest crow in Britain – to put this in perspective, there are roughly the same number of breeding pairs of choughs in the UK as there are golden eagles.
Well Choughed!
