30 Days Wild | Day 11 - arriving on Bardsey

Bardsey time! Jan from the B&B very kindly dropped me and my massive luggage (containing all my food for the coming week) off at Cwrt Farm, where all the luggage was loaded onto a trailer to be driven down to the boat at Porth Meudwy. This left me and a couple of other people to enjoy a very pleasant walk down to the beach unencumbered by luggage – excellent service! The crossing was great – the sea very calm – and we saw loads of seabirds; Puffins, Razorbills, Guillemots, Kittiwakes, Fulmars, Shags and Gannets. Once on the island, our luggage was again transported for us to the Bird Observatory so that we could enjoy our walk up there from the harbour. We were welcomed to the observatory with tea and lots of introductory information by Steve, Emma, Mark, Steffan and Connor. There were only two other people staying at the Observatory until Monday (when more people were arriving) which was quite nice – we didn’t have to worry about taking up lots of space in the fridge!

Bardsey Bird Observatory - our home for the coming week :o) (HDR)

Bardsey Bird Observatory.

A warm (or cool?) welcome for us on the fridge!

In the afternoon I went for a first exploratory walk around the island. It was brilliant and I saw so much lovely wildlife! However the highlight of my first day was the Choughs; these had been one of the birds I’d been looking forward to seeing most of all, as I’d only ever seen Chough once before, on the west coast of Ireland when I was 11. They are very common on Bardsey, and I saw my first pair of the week flying overhead when I was eating lunch outside the Observatory. I soon saw and heard many more, including this pair near the lighthouse who sat together for a long time ‘cheowing’ at each other.

Choughs!

Chough Chough.

Choughs.

Here are a few more scenes from my first day on Bardsey:

The beach (HDR).

View looking north from the south end of the island (HDR).

Looking down from the Observatory (HDR).