Summer update

As usual, the pace picked up once we returned from holiday and entered the busy visitor season....the last couple of months have flown by as summer activities have occupied most of our time: running the small caffi to supply hot drinks to day visitors, vegetation and habitat monitoring, livestock management and silage making...as well as lots of reunions and catching up with friends and regulars coming to stay on Enlli.  Here are a few highlights:

 Snowdrop continues to grow and be very sociable...as well as naughty!

The wildflowers have been fantastic this summer.  The hayrattle we sowed a few years ago is thriving, and this season has seen a few Ox-eye daisies re-appear in these meadows, having been extinct for 40 years.

Another flower rich meadow - this one with more marshy species, such as this Purple loosestrife

A new bull was brought onto the island, who we have named Tomos

We've had some impressive thunderstorms - here's an spectacular build up of Cumulus nimbus over the mainland.

Some of the poly-tunnel harvest!

 A shearing team from Cwrt managed to shear all 300 ewes in just 5 hours...pretty impressive!

 I've tried to keep up with a steady stream of commissions - this rug was a bit big to wash in the bath, so had to have it's first wash in the sea, followed by a hosepipe to remove the salt water!

...and a commission for 3 mini coracles!

Steve and Gareth managed to get 300 bales of silage harvested, despite various machinery challenges along the way!


Rachel had a fantastic week with the Society for Wildlife Artists on a seabird drawing course based in Aberlady.  The week included a visit to the gannet colony on Bass rock.  The tutors were very inspiring and a huge encouragement.
She has spent the rest of the summer both on Enlli and at Felin Uchaf, volunteering at this amazing  eco-centre near Aberdaron where they have been working on a new building which will host a centre forLiving arts and science.  See  http://www.felinuchaf.org/1/index.html



Another summer highlight was Ben's return from 2 months in Romania with Operation Wallacea where he was leading the bird recording project.  You can read of his experiences soon on his blog at benporterphotography.blogspot.co.uk.