Stormy is the word!

Since getting back to the island at the beginning of the month, we have been beset by an almost endless barrage of low pressures and storm systems, culminating in 'Storm Frank' yesterday. For the most part, this has produced quite a lot of rather dull days, prevailed by heavy rain and strong winds. However, every now and then the sun makes a shy appearance, and turns the bleak landscape into a beautiful display of colour: the spray of waves catching the late afternoon sun; Choughs gleaming as they bank and glide aerobically prior to landing; the endless tones of blues, greys and whites that make up the colour of each rollings wave.

So for some of the time during the last few weeks, it has been very pleasant to be outside, with plenty of great photographic opportunities, and enough wildlife to keep one entertained. It has been great to see two new Grey Seal pups appear on the beaches around the Narrows over the last two weeks, which have only just managed to escape the very high tides and stormy weather. Equally, watching the moulted seal pups that are now independent has been amusing too: some have adopted certain rock pools around the coast where they will play for hours in the shallows.

In terms of birdlife, passerines have been in short supply during the windy conditions, but waders and gulls around the Narrows have provided plenty of interest. There appear to be two Whimbrels overwintering this year, with overwintering populations of around 25 Turnstones, 10 Purple Sandpipers, 100 Oystercatchers and 14 Redshanks. Every day a small feeding flock of Kittiwakes trails around the island along the various tidal currents, feeding on churned up morsels of fish and invertebrates. Occasionally this flock (numbering around 140) contains a few Little Gulls and the odd Mediterranean Gull, with plenty of Common Gulls and Herring Gulls tagging along now and then.

All in all it has been a great few week's break from uni, although whether the weather will allow us to return to Falmouth to continue the next term is another matter!!

Here is a selection of images taken during my time back on the island:

 Dad and I took the advantage of a rare clear (ish) night to take a star timelapse sequence and also snap a few images down in the bay in Henllwyn. This is a 25 second exposure at ISO 320 (6D of course!)

A Grey Seal bull emerging from a mass of sea foam!

Grey Seal with a bit of bokeh

Moulted pup peeking over some sea foam

Scratchy seal

Kittiwake scaling a breaking wave

Common Gull

Turnstones in the splash zone

Herring Gull

Purple Sandpipers- there don't appear to be as many as usually overwinter here, but it is nice to see them

Chough in-coming!

It was brilliant to spot this Jack Snipe sitting tight whilst walking up through the wetlands a few days ago!!

Panoramic of the island from the south end

It has been very cool to see so many By-the-wind Sailors washing up on the island- such fascinating creatures (check out my advent post on them here)

These Goose Barnacles had chosen a novel piece of floatsom to commandeer! Goose Barnacles are species of Crustacean, and lead to one of the more impressive myths before the knowledge of migration: it was thought that Barnacle Geese originated from these barnacles, spending the winter in this form before emerging as geese in the spring!

I have also been attempting a few timelapse sequences during my time here...

Storms and Seabirds

I have been quite busy in the last few days, as the weather has finally calmed down (a little bit!) and allowed for access to the island's seabird colonies on the East Side. I have been helping out counting and ringing a broad selection of species on the island's rocky cliffs. We have made some good progress in counting nests and breeding pairs, although many of the breeding species are still just a little behind in terms of ringing- almost all the auks are still on eggs. Some of our highest counts have included 30 Fulmars, two Storm Petrels, two Cormorants, 72 Shags, 267 Kittiwakes, 1000 Guillemots, 1595 Razorbills and 41 Puffins.

In addition to the breeding seabirds, it has been great to start seeing some emerging lepidoptera and insects around the island. Yesterday's very calm and sunny weather encouraged a great selection of micro and macro moths out during the day, including the year's first Thrift Clearwing, hundreds of Celypha cespitana and Lobesia littoralis, Teleiopsis diffinis, Bryotropha terrella, Elachista argentella, Rush Veneer and Pyrausta despicata. Fresh avian migrants have been very thin on the ground, although the last two days have been reasonable, with double figure counts of Spotted Flycatchers, along with a scattering of Reed Warblers, Whitethroats, Garden Warblers, Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers. A smart first summer female Red-breasted Flycatcher was great to see and ring this morning.

Here is a selection of images from the last week:

I used a Canon 15mm fisheye lens on my 7D mkII to get some close-up landscape images of these Razorbills. They were very tame and thus allowed a close proximity. This worked really well for grabbing some wide-angle shots. I hope to be able to continue this project and produce a few more interesting environmental images

The howling south-westerly gales produced some very impressive swells and rolling breakers around the coast. It was tricky to capture any decent images of passing seabirds because of their distance from the shore. This was my best attempt at a Manx Shearwater

Kittiwake on the East Side

There are a minimum of three, and perhaps as many as five pairs of Little Owls on the island this year. One or two of the pairs are quite predictable in where they show, and so some reasonable images can be taken. This bird has been sitting out on a regular perch just above our house on the mountainside. Although they are obviously nesting in one of the banks nearby, we have been unable to locate the nest as yet

It has been great to see so many Spotted Flycatchers around the island in the last few days. Some years we can have triple figure counts, but this year has been more of a steady trickle. Over 20 have been several times in the last week. 

Linnet

There are a lot of Wheatears around the coast feeding hungry chicks at the moment, and the combination of the vivid emerging thrift makes for some pretty stunning views and spectacles

A Sanderling treading water

You can also view my images at the following links: 

• Flickr
• 500px
• Website

Storms!

Since early December, the weather has taken a rather windy and dull deviation from the pleasant conditions we were experiencing in November. The last week has been incredibly dull and gloomy, and the constant strong winds have produced some large seas. Unfortunately the lighting has been appalling for photography, and so I have very few decent images of the recent storms that are any good. Here is a small selection from the 22nd.

Looking north-east from Solfach towards Bardsey Mountain. A very grey scene

Looking out from Solfach Hide

Kittiwake and Herring Gull

Kittiwake

Black-headed Gull and Kittiwake

Herring Gull at a low shutter speed (1/60)

Herring Gulls at low shutter speeds (1/60th)

Oystercatcher