It was David Lee, a visitor to the Observatory in May 2007, who suggested we split the Bird and Wildlife News from the Social and other Island News, so that if people were particularly interested in just the Bird News, then they didn't have to wade through any Social News that I included.  At the moment, all the Bird News depends on the Warden phoning me from the Island (which he usually does daily) with any notable sightings.  So now we have two separate pages on the site, both linked to each other and both linked from the index page. 


4 March 2008 -  ISLAND AND OBSERVATORY NEWS NOW APPEARS IN THE BARDSEY CRIER'S BLOG WHICH YOU CAN ACCESS BY CLICKING HERE

1 January 2008 - The Bardsey Crier is announcing the Social News to the world (as Criers have been doing for centuries).  You will find his announcements on his BLOGSPOT HERE.  You can, of course, post your own comments on here but don't work me too hard - I do this job entirely in a voluntary capacity.  If you want to see what the Bardsey Crier looks like, then you may like to visit his official website here

12 November 2007 - Steve, Emma and Connor left the island and have now moved to Southport for a while where Steve can be found sitting at the computer, writing his reports of the Observatory year and collecting all his spam now he has a broadband connection :-))  He can now be reached on his email address which can be found here.

2 November 2007 - A first for the island today.  Steve attended a Tele-Conference!   The Scientific Committee met today - nine members met in the CCW Offices at Bangor, Patrick attended from his home near Blackpool, and Steve and Jo Porter attended from Steve's home on Bardsey.  A two hour conference about the island and the management of the habitat was successfully held by them all linking via telephone for the two hours.  Is this the future of our Council meetings I wonder! 

30 October 2007 - The last visitors left the island (three days late because of the weather).  Now there only remains the Porter family (Steve, Jo, Rachel and Ben) in the farm at Ty Pellaf.   Emyr at Nant.   And Steve, Emma and Connor at the Observatory, although they will be leaving in time to be able to attend the Council meeting on............

18 October 2007 - A day to remember for Steve, Emma, Connor and the 27 other residents on the island that day.  Further news and pictures of this MEGA will follow shortly.  Certainly a first class day for the 30 of us on Bardsey this day.

15 October 2007 - A new Organisation was formed today on the island.  "The Bardsey Yellow Helicopter Club".  Membership is very restricted and so far we have only admitted two members.  The Vice President, Bevan Craddock, earned his membership in the spring and the second member admitted was Ben Porter this week.   Membership is restricted to those people who have been taken off the island by the Air Sea Rescue helicopter - the Yellow Sea Kings from Valley.  Ben was flown off this week to Bangor Hospital after only two days on the island (his family now live at Ty Pellaf).  He was involved in an accident which required an operation to one his hands.  He was back on the island two days later (hand in plaster) in time for the MEGA mentioned above.  Please note that membership is now closed - barring accidents or pregnancies.

6 October 2007 - The two Bev's (together with their spouses) are planning a visit.   A little bird tells me that there will be a MEGA on the island around the 18 October - we plan to be there to tick that one off and grip you all off.  Camera's are all primed ready so we can prove it too.

14 September 2007 - New Tenants appointed to look after farm and livestock on island.  Jo and Steve Porter have been appointed and will move in to their new home in late October.  They will also bring with them their two children, Rachel (13 years) and Ben (11 years).  They are not newcomers to the island as Steve has regularly been coming over (sometimes by canoe) to check on his own livestock (thousand of them!) which have been here on the island now for a year or so (and they are hives of bees just above the heligoland trap at Cristin).  We welcome them to the island.  As both Jo and Steve were both teachers on the mainland, they will be continuing to teach their two children on the island - and who knows, Connor may also have a new teacher too!

8 September 2007 - Colin was taking a computer off the island (packed in a box).  It fell out of the dinghy as he was pulling out at Porth Meuddwy.  (And Bevan wasn't there whistling either!!) - Colin is continually "bullying" Bevan over his whistling which he claims brings bad luck to boats and their cargo.  We now await the result of plugging the computer into the mains ???

3 September 2007 - Connor's grandparents brought him a new fishing rod.  On his third cast he caught a baby pollock.  Later he caught a Wrasse big enough to eat which he duly did.  Today he has caught a large Pollock.

Last few days of August 2007 - The two Bevs visited the island for a couple of days to do a little more work on the generator.  There was room in the Obs for the two of us and we had the pleasure of joining the Normands (Bob and Lis) and their daughter Andrea and her three children (William, Holly and Jonathon) plus one of their friends, Ben.  Also staying in the Obs was Rita and John Roberts, regular visitors to the Ennli Isle.  Lots of fun had and William and Ben helped us with the generator.  David (our Assistant) caught us Mackerel for lunch one day, otherwise we lived on luxury food prepared by the, as unyet, world famous Chef de Enlli.  My (Bev the Vice P) only complaint is that yet again he was unable to supply Bardsey Pancakes, blaming me for forgetting to take our special Frying Pan.   Weather was wonderful, warm and sunny but few birds - but who needs them when you are with friends and have those terrific views. 

1 August 2007 (Wednesday) - Steve absconded from the island, leaving his wife and son to look after the Obs :-))    No, he wasn't twitching - he popped over with Dafydd Phillips to do some quick shopping for parts for the new Water Filter we will be fitting.  However, he did find time to buy a pint before going back with Colin around 6pm.  

30 July 2007 (Monday) - The two Bevs plus Mike (new volunteer) took a van load of equipment for the Observatory up to Aberdaron and loaded it onto a trailer for Colin to take over the following day.  The two Bevs will be spending next week on the island doing further voluntary work (details later).

25 July 2007 (Thursday) - Tonight will be a Curry Night in the Observatory.

24 July 2007 (Wednesday) There will be a dance in the School in the evening.

23 July 2007 (Tuesday) - Christine Evans will give a Poetry Reading tonight in the School.

Colin Evans (our boatman) brought over 3 people this weekend who swam back across the Sound to raise money for Charity.

22 July 2007 - Steve organised a BBQ for the visitors this evening.  He also gave an illustrated talk to 25 people in the schoolroom.

21 July 2007 - Steve, Emma and Connor have only been back a week so that's why their has been no news for a while.  David has been too busy looking after the visitors and the webmaster has been busy surveying on Cannock Chase, Town Crying, Morris Dancing and promoting the last Harry Potter book (click on http://www.penkridge.org.uk).   More uptodate news above.

28 June 2007 - Steve phoned on the M6 as they were driving south to West Bromwich for a meeting of the Bird Observatories Council.   High on the Agenda is the new book on the Observatories of the UK which we are all looking forward to seeing.  On their way back tonight they plan to have another go and collect their son, Connor, who is having a great time with his grandparents in Rotherham.

23/24 June 2007 - Steve and Emma left the island for a well-earned break to catch up on dental and health appointments, meeting commitments, and then, hopefully a short holiday.  They left the island in the capable hands of David, our Assistant Warden.  They stayed Saturday night in Pwhelli and on the Sunday morning called to see the Ospreys at Glaslyn (they have two chicks).  They had lunch at the RSPB Reserve at Conway and then headed for South Yorkshire.  BUT, with the torrential rains hitting Wales, the Midlands and South Yorkshire, they found they could not get into Rotherham (to collect Connor), and had to divert to Southport and Emma's home. 

16 June 2007 - Connor left the island to stay with his Nan in Yorkshire for a holiday.  Scientific Committee visited the island for the weekend.  Christine Evans started her Writing Course today at Cristin with 9 students.  Emma slowly recovering from back problems which have kept her in bed for a while. 

11 June 2007 - All Observatory clothing (caps, shirts, etc.) can now be ordered by Mail Order.  Illustrations and Order Form (for printing off) can be found by going to:  http://www.bbfo.org.uk/sales.htm

30 May 2007 - Member Judith Read asks what the news is about the farm on Bardsey.  Bardsey Island Trust own the island and the farm is their responsibility.  When Dave and Libby left recently to move to a Scottish Island,  Gareth Roberts from Cwrt Farm on the mainland agreed to look after the farming until the autumn.  Gareth is now a regular visitor to the island as he helps Colin Evans by taking visitor's luggage up from the Cafn to the Observatory on the Tractor.  Gareth's wife is also frequently seen driving the luggage down to Porth Meuddwy in the Land Rover and trailer from the car park at Cwrt Farm.   We will have to wait a little longer to find out what the arrangements for farming the island are in the future.  Emma and Connor are looking after the chickens and the Turkeys in the farmyard - Ernest and Christin Evans have not yet returned to the island for the summer.  The sheep and cattle look well and the island was greening up nicely on our last visit.  If we ever get Satellite Broadband it would be nice to be able to log on to this website and see the island yourself from our WEBCAM.  In the meantime, I have included below a few general pictures I took on my last visit.

Steve tells me that 45 visitors attended his weekly presentation in the School Room this week.  That is probably a record number of people the school has ever had. 

May 2007
Incidentally, David Lee is a very interesting guy. (Click here for more information). It was his first visit to Bardsey and we had some very interesting conversations at meal times and in the evenings. So the first social news on this page is that he showed us a DVD of a film made by the BBC 50 years ago (1957).  It records the journey made by Sir Vivian Ernest Fuchs who led the first land crossing of Antarctica.   In November 1957, Fuchs set out as head of the British team of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, on the first land crossing of Antarctica. It was a 3473km (2158 mi) journey from the Weddell Sea across the South Pole to the Ross Sea, taking 99 days. Another New Zealand Ross Sea party under Sir Edmund Hillary was responsible for setting up a base at McMurdo Sound and reconnoitring the route from the polar plateau back to the base, establishing depots for Fuchs. Equipped with Sno-cats and specially adapted tractors, the Fuchs party traversed much of the previously unexplored areas and gathered significant scientific information. The expedition is considered one of the outstanding accomplishments undertaken in connection with the International Geophysical Year.

When Bev Healey and myself returned we had the company of Volunteers Richard Else and Ian Wright plus John Spanos, Susan Wolfe (who gave us a talk on the Falkland Isles and its birds), and David Lee in the Observatory.  Assist. Warden David Wright, Steve, Emma and their son Connor were also around of course.  Beekeeper Steve paddled his canoe over from the mainland one day to inspect and manage the Bee Hives.  Steve is a very experienced canoeist and came over in about 30 minutes, timing the tides so he could make the journey with the least possible effort.  Highlight of the week was without doubt Chef Healey's Bread and Butter Pudding, made with eggs from the Observatory's chickens plus other secret ingredients!  And I did manage a week without a helicopter trip this time although I did fall down again twice - once on the grass and once in Colin's new dinghy (fortunately inside and not outside it)! 

Below are a few images taken on Bardsey during a week in May 2007
CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO ENLARGE

All images and data is Bardsey Bird & Field Observatory Copyright © 2003/2007
and cannot be reproduced without the written permission of the Council of the Observatory