The sunrise this morning was fantastic and not being a good sleeper at the moment enabled me to witness it.

Another day without boats meant that we continued with painting the island’s shop in the morning and then we spent some time looking for potential breeding pairs of chough on the eastern side of the island.  I went to the very south of the island and watched a pair for about an hour; they seemed very interested in possible nest sites and chased off other chough but there were no signs that they had young – perhaps next year.

The weather looks interesting tomorrow with heavy rain and up to 50mph gusts of wind – might be a day for more inside work.

With the weather still not up to allowing the boat to run, bringing visitors to Ramsey Island, we started on redecorating the island’s shop. We began by clearing all the contents out into the storeroom next door but took a photo first to ensure we put everything back in the same place.

We completed one coat and it needs another but with the cool and damp conditions on the island, the first coat will take a night to dry.

In the afternoon, we did a range of tasks and I chopped four crates of wood for the Bungalow’s fire (managing not to crush the tendons in my hand like I have previously – not on Ramsey) and then Steve and I repaired the dam in the small pond above the farmhouse – I know those years of practice in my childhood would come in handy one day!

As it does frequently, the weather changed from cloudy and wet to sunny and dry in the afternoon but the wind is still brisk and it looks like we won’t get boats again for a few days yet.

Volunteers on Ramsey Island have one day off a week, and today was it. I think we were all glad of it too, after having the Wardens up to the Bungalow for Dinner last night – I was certainly a little fuzzy this morning.

Unexpectedly the weather was great again although the wind was still too strong for the boats to bring visitors across and it may stay like this for the rest of the week.

I spent the middle of the day doing an hour long chough watch at the south of the island (watching for activity around a chough nest site) and then took some photos of the flowers – the example below being the best of them (I think I need to put a bit more effort in!)

This is the first time I’ve been on Ramsey when the Spring flowers have been coming out.  Whilst I was on the island for the same two weeks last year, the late Spring of 2013 meant that most of the flowers hadn’t appeared by the time I left.  Hopefully, they will all be in full bloom before I leave.

Some of the birds on the island are very obliging when it comes to taking their photos with the female stonechat below proving the point.

Today started with a stunning early morning bit of sunshine and with that kind of weather over this landscape, the the Bungalow’s washing line must be one of the most picturesque.

I spent the morning doing a breeding bird survey around the northern half of the island, walking and making notes of the birds and their behaviour for a couple of hours in the stunning sunshine – following on from a lovely early morning sat on the doorstep of the Bungalow, this was a pretty perfect morning.

After lunch, Steve and I went across to the west of the island to finish off tending to the cairns, this time up on Carn Llundain – the tallest of Ramsey’s three hills.  As we made our way up the hill, the weather closed in and the rain lashed in from the sea, forced towards us by a strengthening wind.  Unlike many of the cairns yesterday, most up on the hill were in quite a good state of repair.  After we finished, I went to the top of the hill to look across the Island – with the cloud having rolled in, the mainland was largely obscured.

On the way home to the Bungalow, the weather changed again turning the scene back to stunning sunshine.  I took the opportunity to take a shot of my favourite view from Ramsey – looking from the Bungalow, across the northern fields and Ramsey Sound, towards Whitesands Bay and Carn Llidi (the hill in the background).

There’s rarely a day without wind on Ramsey, which means the weather can change by the hour, turning from sun, to rain and back to sun again – the weather is certainly never dull on the island!

Sat in the doorway, dazzled by the new dawn, the cloudless blue sky brings early warmth from the sun. The strong wind of yesterday has wained but a cooling breeze still takes a little heat away.

There’s a background rumble from the sea, an undertone to the scene, but the birds have the stage laid out in fields, sea and mainland hills.

The wren plays its song from crags behind the house, while linnets chirp as they flit their way past. The wheatear chortles on the rough stone wall and the meadow pipit rises and falls above its ground. The choughs call as they dance in the breeze and the skylark claims its land from a height.

Not long until the day’s work starts; visitors today? We’ll wait and see.