Stile guru

. . . . afterwards.

. . . . during . . . .

Before . . . .

As we have already mentioned, we have been working to do a bit of spring clearing at Nant and Ty Capel withies. Part of that work has been to replace the old aluminium ladder into Nant Withy to make access for the bird ringers a lot easier and safer. So Jim, with his usual recycling hat on, has made a new ladder stile out of old wood to access the withy.

Elaine

PS For my sins, I was once a member of the British Standards footpath stile working party. So it had better be good - Jim

Gameboy

The worktops inside the kitchen at Cristin are fine and dandy, but sometimes you just need to move on – or out. So, if you need a bit more room, feel a little warm or have something especially messy to do, then it is outside to the wall that you go. Over the years we have prepared cooked lobsters and crabs, gutted fish and today Jim did his ‘hunter/gatherer’ thing on the wall by the kitchen window. We hadn’t been culling the island birds, but had been given two brace of partridge and a pheasant via the farm from the mainland. So, with much feather flying, Jim spent an hour or two plucking & cleaning them up. Cold work but someone had to do it - and it wasn’t going to be me!

Elaine

Christmas came late, or is it early?

Saturday was a special day. Our friends, Mel, Dai and Gwyn Stacey came over to the island for lunch. They have been planning to get here since before Christmas and had done a lot of shopping for us. However, due to weather and other commitments from all concerned, they finally made it a month later than expected. Their floor at home had been a temporary, but rather long term storage space for our pre Christmas wish list. So it was that we finally received some Christmas crackers, a bottle of port and a festive tin of peanuts amongst all the other lovely goodies they had kindly run around getting for us. We spent a hectic two hours together; so much to talk about and things to show them even though they know the island well. Then Ernest was ready to get back to the mainland and so they left for the return trip to Carmarthen. A long journey for such a flying visit, but we hope they enjoyed themselves as much as we did. Thanks you guys!

Elaine

Now I'm a bag lady

How many bird bags does a bird observatory need? Well I think I know the answer and this is about a quarter of them, washed and hanging out ready for a little work with the sewing machine. Watch this space.

Elaine

Basket cases

With the advent of bright, cold weather, we thought it was time to get stuck in to more of the conservation tasks we’d talked ourselves in to doing. This time it was pollarding the willow osiers in the withies at Nant & Ty Capel at the north end of Bardsey. The osiers were traditionally cut by the islanders to take willow wands to make their lobster pots. The wands would have been cut on a two/three year cycle creating a sustainable supply of material that also creates good habitat for migratory birds and wildlife. With the demise in the demand for willow for lobster creels, the withies have mainly been managed for the birds and can quickly become overgrown. However, Jo Porter at TY Pellaf has revived basket making for new uses like washing and vegetable baskets. With this fresh incentive to manage the willow withies, we set about cutting the willow in Nant & Ty Capel withies. It involved about half a day cutting and pruning. As well as selecting willow wands for weaving ,we also pruned the willow, especially some of the old growth, to encourage whippy regrowth that will be suitable to cut in the next year or so. Out of the wood we took out we made seven good bundles of willow wands that will be woven in to various design of basket on the island by Elaine, Emma & Jo. We then chipped most of the wood that was left, which will be used for composting the loo at the farm at Ty Pellaf.

Jim

Snow at last

Well, we thought we were missing out, but this morning we finally woke to a sprinkle of snow and bright frosty weather. So, we abandoned all thought of work and went for a walk over the mountain.

We were rewarded with amazing views of the Irish and Welsh mountains and also some close views of some of the birds finding refuge on the island; lapwing, mistle thrush and redwing.

With cheeks rosy from the wind we made it home to curried parsnip soup – life doesn’t get much better.

Elaine

Seabird ringing opportunities on Shiant Isles

At 34 years old, the oldest Puffin in the British Isles was retrapped on the Shiants in 2009. (c) Alex Borawska

The Shiants Auk Ringing Group is running its annual trip to the Shiant Islands and we still have some spaces in the party.

We will be mainly ringing & surveying auks, Shags and Storm Petrels, plus gulls and Bonxies & some passerines. In 2009 we ringed more than 2,000 seabirds. Also, we will also be doing seabird colony counts (particularly in the first week). The terrain is quite rough and you will need a reasonable level of fitness. The dates for the trip are 19 June to 3 July 2010, and we will cross to the Shiants from Uig on Skye in a charter boat.

The costs for one and two weeks are £325 & £475 respectively. This includes the boat, food and rings, while on the trip. The owner's website is very good and explains what it's like to stay there: http://www.shiantisles.net/ . Also, one of last year’s team members, Emily Scragg, has done a bit about the trip on her blog; see http://c-ringing.blogspot.com/ (you need to scroll down).

Please let me know as soon as possible if you want to join us on the trip. If you have any queries, I am very happy to answer them by either posted comments, email or messages can be left on my mobile (07900 608037), which I check every couple of days.

Jim

Proactive defencing

While the rest of the world has been lazing around during the annual two week Christmas break, Jim and I have been busy removing the surplus fencing from around Nant plantation. Jim actually started this task back in November and has been tackling it in short bursts between other jobs, but, with the end in sight, we have been carrying out a major push to get it finished.

The old plantation has had, over the years, new fencing put around it outside the patched up original fence to keep out the stock. This left a hundred plus excess fence posts, over a kilometre of redundant and rotting wire and 200 metres of sheep netting . Each of these elements had to be detached and coiled for removal and then lugged to where Steve, from the farm, could get to it with the trailer to take it away. The wire will eventually be removed from the island and recycled, and the posts will be used in the withies to repair the board walks, one of our next projects, or burnt as winter fuel at Ty Pellaf.

So, an arduous and tedious task, especially in the wind, rain and snow, but now it’s complete the whole place looks much tidier and a lot easier on the eye.

Elaine