Main February Features

February began with a training visit from the very impressive new Coastguard Search and Rescue helicopter (now run by the Bristow group). It's always reassuring to know this competent team are not too far away should they be needed!'

It has been a month of very mixed weather, with a couple of relatively short, sharp storms, as well as some more settled spells. At one point we thought the island was just beginning to dry out...that didn't last too long! On the 8th, a combination of big spring tides and gale force winds (steve measured 99mph on the mountain!) created conditions for some pretty spectacular waves which threw quite a lot of beach deposit around the coast.

  Steve has been working on felling a few trees at the east end of the plantation, initially freeing 3 oak trees from being smothered by brambles, and giving them some space and light to grow. The felled Sitka's have been cut into lengths in order to season for fuel, while all the branches were chipped to produce mulch. The plantation is now about 40 years old (the felled trees had about that many rings), which is the typical lifespan for Sitka spruce. two of the 10 felled trees were pretty dead. The plan is to replant new Sitka Spruce in the more open spaces, whilst continuing to fell a few trees each year. This will ensure that there is a sustainable rotation and still leave plenty of habitat for the species that use it, like Fire crests.

Most of the branches were chipped, and several dumpy bags were added to my new "no dig" veg garden as a top mulch:

 I have been continuing to build up stock for the craft shop, and have given the inside a much needed lick of paint. I managed to get to the mainland for a Felting course, concentrating on improving on felt pictures, hopefully capturing some of the seascapes and landscapes of Enlli.

. On my way back I made a detour to visit Rachel and Ben in Falmouth. The fields surrounding their caravan are yellow with daffodils at the moment - here are some of Ben's images:

January highlights (and lowlights!)

After a whole year of not posting anything, I'm going to endeavour to do at least one post a month in 2016!

Rachel and Ben managed to get back home for 3 weeks at Christmas, and returned to Falmouth in early January - both journeys across the Sound had to be finely timed to catch tiny windows in the relentlessly stormy conditions.

                               This was taken on a very wet christmas day!

This seems to be the theme of the month (and the winter) - mild, wet and very windy!  Consequently there have been some lovely moody landscapes, as well as a lot of mud and soggy ground (not so lovely!)

We are delighted to have Sian and Mark as new neighbours.  They have both been extremely busy tackling a variety of jobs in order to prepare the Trust houses for a new season.....cleaning, painting, scrubbing tanks, gardening.  We wish Sian all the best in her role as Trust warden, and Mark too, as he continues his job as assistant warden for the bird obs.

The winter storms have deposited all sorts of debris around the coast; beach-combing always brings some interesting finds:

                                 This is a wooden ornamental duck covered in goose barnacles!

                                              Plenty of lovely bits of driftwood

                      Tia enjoying chewing a washed up teddy bear - a bit more exciting than the usual tennis balls!

Sadly the amount of plastic washed up is worse than ever; hopefully an island rubbish pick up before the visitor season starts will make the beaches a bit more pleasant, and remove hazards to wildlife.

We have both kept busy with various jobs...

Once again, Steve has harvested some of the kelp deposited on Solfach, and placed it in piles at the back of the beach where it can rot down in order to be used as fertiliser on the arable fields.

Steve finished the annual quota of fence renewal in December, and has been fitting some new gates this month:

This has to be the least favourite job of the year - crutching the ewes.  This basically involves being bent double (for 300 sheep) and shearing the wool off their bums.  This painful procedure (for Steve, not for the sheep) really does help during lambing and also minimises blowfly strike in the spring.

The sheep scanner managed to be brought over mid month, so that the breeding flock could be assessed for whether they are carrying twins or single lambs.  Knowing this really helps us give the correct pre-lambing feeding regime, and helps us know what to expect when it comes to lambing time. The scanning result was 153%, so we anticipate about 450 lambs this year.

Eira the goat is missing her companion, Morwenna, who has been on the mainland since november (visiting a billy at Richlin goat farm in Pen y Bont).  As a result Eira has been seeking more company and joining in with activities like rounding up the sheep, and going for walks!

We have made a new veg plot, next to the polytunnel which has been well fertilised with seaweed.  Sadly most of our winter supply of veg has drowned in the extremely wet ground.  This new plot is hopefully in a drier location!

I have been busy making more baskets, rugs and other bits and pieces, so the craft room is pretty full!

After 4 months on Enlli, Steve managed to get a much needed break for a few days during a brief respite in the stormy weather.  Here he is heading off early one morning to the mainland...

He enjoyed a night hike along Crib Goch in the snow, followed by an ascent of Tryfan the following day!

The view from the top of Snowdon in moonlight

There have been very few clear nights, but Steve has made the most of whenever the clouds have parted.  Here are a few images 

And finally, Spring is on the way!  Our spirits have been lifted during the last week with some signs that spring is just around the corner - the occasional wren and dunnock singing, a bit of warmth in the sun, green shoots bursting from pussy willows, and the first daffodil flowering in the garden:

Winter Projects - moving towards island sustainability

We've been quite busy over the last few weeks with various projects...

After a spell of dry weather, we managed to burn some of this year's allocation of European Gorse on the mountain, just before the storms started to roll in again!

One new approach to gorse control on the mountain, which is more sustainable,  is to hand cut the more accessible mature bushes, and use a chipper to provide biomass for burning on our wood stove.  So, Steve and Ben have been tackling a small area near Pen Cristin...prickly work!

Another new project involves using seaweed, mainly kelp, as fertiliser.  The seaweed is deciduous and is deposited in vast quantities on the beach after the winter storms.  Traditionally it was spread on the fields over winter as it is rich in minerals and trace elements.  We have always used a small quantity on the veg garden - with really good results, particularly for root crops.  We can take up to 50 % off Solfach after each storm, making sure plenty is left for the over wintering chough population to forage on.
So Steve used the new tractor grab to collect a few loads this week, and spread it on one of the arable fields...

Spot the difference!

We also now have a small wind turbine which is working hard in this windy weather.  Over the 10 days since it was erected, we have been able to run most of our electrical needs off the power produced, reducing the need for the diesel generator significantly.