There’s always something nautical happening around Ramsey, whether it be Gower Ranger bringing visitors to the island, the RNLI lifeboats going out on a shout, ferries passing in the distance or yachts sailing through the Sound.  Much larger vessels can also usually be seen from the island and there are often a few moored in St. Bride’s Bay – Ramsey is at the northern tip of the bay.

I’ve got to admit that I’ve had a bit of an interest in ships since I was small, so staying on Ramsey Island gives me an opportunity to indulge in a bit of ship spotting!  The ships moor in St. Bride’s Bay while waiting to go into Milford Haven harbour or to ride out storms; at the moment there’s six sitting out there.

There’s a website, marinetraffic.com, which provides information on ships around the world and enables the ships in St. Bride’s Bay to be identified.

Below is the Stena Clear Sky, a Liquified Natural Gas carrier, which has been sat off Ramsey since I arrived a week ago.

Left to right below are the tankers Ramona, New Conquest and Elisabeth.

Also in the bay ARE STI Mayfair (below, with the island of Skomer in the background) and BRO Distributor, also both tankers.

The ships often come and go at night so there can be different ships each morning, but often they sit out there for a number of days.  There are also some regulars and I have seen BRO Deliverer and her sister ship BRO Distributor before.

Now, I need to get out of bed and see what’s sitting out there this morning!

After the stunning day we’ve just had weather-wise, I just had to go out and get the best of the light of the ‘golden hour’ before sunset…

It’s been a very bright and warm day on Ramsey Island; it started off bright with a cold breeze but for the breeze to drop and the sun to gain in strength during the afternoon.

Today has been a typical day of volunteering with visitor boats met, visitors made tea and coffee, sweeping the shearing sheds, checking on chough nests to see if the young have fledged, and finally a bit of thistle control (cutting them down with machetes).

After the visitors left for the day and the radio enthusiasts had been loaded into the Gower Ranger following their three-night stay in the farm buildings, I went for a wander around the island.  I spent a while sat at the top of Carn Llindain (the island’s highest point) looking  out across Ramsey Sound towards the mainland.  With such clear skies, I could also see the Smalls Lighthouse and (very faintly) the Irish coast.

Below is the view from the top of Carn Llindain looking over the farm buildings and Ramsey Sound to St. David’s and the Preseli Hills in the distance.

On my evening wander I also tried to get some shots of the wildlife; below is one of many young fledglings flitting around the island – this one being a Wheatear.

After the hinds wouldn’t position themselves in an orderly way the other evening, the stags made up for it today by mooching around the foxgloves immediately outside the Bungalow this afternoon…

There are 14 red deer on the island, left over from a deer farming enterprise in the 60s and 70s, with four stags and 10 hinds…and possibly some calves hidden away somewhere in the long bracken.

…off the south coast of Ramsey Island – nesting place for gulls.

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It’s been a quiet and largely foggy day on Ramsey Island. I woke to a lack of a view from my bedroom windows this morning and it didn’t much improve when I opened the front door.  After the great weather yesterday afternoon, it was with a bit of disappointment that we wandered down to the farmhouse.

Lisa (the Warden), Lizzie (the Intern), Kate (the summer volunteer) and I (the dogs-body) spent much of the day clearing bracken away from the edge of the path out towards the south of the island, and also up the small hill (Foel Fawr). I do like a bit of scything and maybe this was just a bit practice for some proper bracken-bashing later in my stay.

Ramsey Island has three white unicorns and a very rare brown one. Unfortunately, brown unicorns are born infertile, so cannot be bred from.