Linda Precious has travelled all the way from Southend in Essex to see one particular seabird – a puffin. She’s doesn’t have much luck until Dave Bateson of the RSPB wanders over, points down at the sea far below and advises her to look out for their distinctive white cheeks and tummies.
“It’s exactly what I came for. It’s just a bird I have never seen and I was desperate to see them – they are just so sweet” said Linda. Dave and his team spend a lot of time finding puffins for the 35,000 visitors a year to
South Stack, but in conservation terms, their most important bird is the chough. It is a member of the crow family, with a distinctive curved red bill and red legs, and is one of the rarest birds in Britain.
South Stack has nine breeding pairs of chough, an incredible two per cent of the UK population. The whole reserve with its great swathes of heathland is run to suit them and their need to probe the earth for grubs and beetles.
The guillemots and razorbills that throng the cliff ledges in summer are true sea birds. They hate being on land and only come ashore to lay their eggs. Even before the chicks can fly, they
will hurl themselves 150 feet through the air, crash into the water and paddle out to the open sea with their parents. It’s a great sight to see.