I took some people to 'Birds Rock' (Craig yr Adar) on New Quay head yesterday to view the
sea-bird colony and it didn't disappoint it was teeming with birdlife, Guillemots, Razorbills, Kittiwakes in full voice, Fulmar, Gannets close inshore and the usual stars of the show made an appearance, a dashing Peregrine and a pair of charismatic Chough and the 'big brother' of the corvid family, the Raven. The sea state was good but we didn't see any dolphins or porpoise or any seals hauled out on the rocks below. Lots of whitethroats singing in the area.
Last week my wife and I visited Skomer island crossing a mirror calm 'Jack Sound' On the 'Dale Princess'. The island was absolutely alive with sea-birds, puffins, guillemots, razorbills and kittiwakes. Minutes after disembarking and making our way up the path to the new information centre we were shown a little owl and a short-eared owl by one of the volunteers staying on the island (I missed the Golden Oriole seen on the island that day though!). There was an absolute profusion of wild flowers, colourful swathes of bluebell and red campion. Tussocks of thrift brightened up the sea cliffs. I swear that the birds were just enjoying the warm spring sunshine and not really bothered about getting on with the business of breeding! There was evidence of the presence of the Manx Shearwaters from their numerous carcases widely scattered over the island having falling victim to the predation of gulls (presumably Great black backed). There were lots of porpoise in the area. Grassholm was barely visible through the thin mist.
I have never seen Skomer looking so good. I get the impression that the seabirds in Wales are faring much better than their northern counterparts.
You might all be interested in acquiring the spring issue (No.30) of that excellent bi-lingual magazine 'Natur Cymru' (Nature of Wales) which has a couple of interesting articles in it, and more specifically-'Guillemots on Skomer' by the eminent ornithologist Tim Birkhead and an article by another eminent man Chris Perrins entitled 'Tracking the movements of Manx Shearwaters at Sea'. All good stuff. The said magazine retails at £4.00 and I think you can get it from 'Siop y Pethe' in Aberystwyth and possibly the 'Waterstones' bookshop in the Uni. or go on line http://www.naturcymru.org.uk/ Or http://www.natureofwales.org.uk/