WILD WALKS OF LLANUNWAS
By Rob Davies

Many of the birds that forage in the fields around the house come to roost in the trees that surround the walled garden. The wood at Llanunwas is one of the largest rookeries in Pembrokeshire, each spring the rooks build their scraggy nests high up in the bare treetops just before the leaves begin to surround and conceal them. Amid the rook’s harsh caws you will probably hear the shrill of their smaller cousins: the jackdaws. Their happy yelps often echo around the old derelict buildings where these birds find secret nest places in the old pigeon holes. Jackdaws are renowned for their cunning and a close look at this bird will reveal their intelligent blue eyes set deep into their grey hoods. Jackdaws are the only birds known to practice democracy. They have two calls – a high note which means lets go out and feed, and a low note which means lets go home for a cuppa. When more than half of the flock call high you will see them cavort off to the fields, and when most of them call low they will wing their way back. (The collective noun should have been a parliament of jackdaws not owls!).

Tawny owls are sometimes heard in the wood at night if you listen out for them. A buzzard too is a frequent visitor, you will see his large brown wings slice through the woods with no difficulty at all, he sometimes perches on a branch and before you know it, he has spotted you first and flies off. This year a barn owl is resident in one of the old buildings and quarters over the fields late evening.
Another bird of prey visits the wood, but this one is not a patient hunter and all one is likely to see is the flit of a barred wing through the leaves, as the sparrowhawk tries (usually unsuccessfully) to surprise its prey.

Take a walk to Nine Wells (see map page 4) and back to the farm on the coastpath and this is what you are likely to come across.
On the way to the cliffs take the first right and follow the path to the concrete foundations of the old RAF base, which housed American pilots from Wake Island during the war. You pass through an unkempt tract of land leading down to Nine Wells valley. The tangles and thickets are a great home for rabbits, and sometimes a fox passes by on the lookout for a meal. On still sunny days, if you look amongst the concrete slabs and brambles, you may see the zigzag pattern of an adder as she suns herself in a warm spot. But adders are shy, they will feel the vibrations of your footsteps and will be gone before you arrive unless you move very quietly. Moving quietly and even sitting motionless for long periods are the secrets for watching wildlife.

You will come to a pretty and very sheltered pond in the valley where moorhens & teal build their nests amongst the reeds. One of the most exciting discoveries was the identification of tracks and spraints belonging to otters in this valley a while back. They occurred regularly here in the past, but Nine Wells valley would probably only comprise part of the large range of these animals. We hope that in the future they will be a regular sight again, perhaps trotting down, hunch-backed, alongside the little brook, to play and feed in the kelp beds of Porth y Rhaw.
Early this century the Georges family made use of the steep descent of this little brook and fed it by small aquaducts through two mill wheels – one for corn, the other for wool. Once a year, the boat from Rotterdam arrived in Porth y Rhaw and rowed in with new dyes for the wool mill. Levelled ruins near the beach are all that now remain of this little industry.

At the beach you may climb the steep rise to Morfa common for a rich ornithological experience, or for the less energetic, turn left and head back to Llanunwas via the old Celtic fort. There are great rockpools at the beach particularly on a very low tide. The rocks of North Pembrokeshire are some of the most ancient in Britain (up to 1000 million years old), and the cliffs at Porth y Rhaw are made up of sediments from the Cambrian period which show the very earliest sings of life on earth. They are famous for the fossil trilobites and ammonites that have been found here. They weather to form thin sandy soils, ideal for barley and other cereal crops.
The sea has carved these rocks into jagged, jutting sculptures and as the tide recedes a host of sea-dwelling animals are trapped in the small pools amongst these shapes. If you peer in amongst the fronds of seaweed you can get a glimpse of a whole new world. Starfish creep over the rocks; goby fish skulk in the seaweed; while crabs scuttle amongst brightly-coloured sea anemones. One can completely lose track of time gazing into these small microcosms of life. The rocks above low water mark are exposed to very different environmental conditions at different heights, and consequently here is a striking zonation in the species of animals and plants seen. This is most clearly shown by the lichens – with the black Verrucaria growing at the lowest level, the grey sea ivory (Ramalina) at the highest level, both separated by a bright orange band of Caloplaca. Lichens grow very slowly and the oldest lichens, in Lapland, have been found to be 9000 years old.

Morfa common is for anyone who loves the sea breeze over the wild cliffs. A favourite walk is down to Caer Bwdi. This walk is really for the bird. red-billed choughs probe the ploughed fields for food near the cliff edge and launch into bounding light, rising in the stiff breeze as they give their shrill laughing calls. All the birds seem to delight in the cliff updraughts. Nesting ravens croak deeply and do a slow, deliberate barrel roll in mid flight. I once watched three pairs of these huge birds take it in turns to do their display flights as the others watched. The ubiquitous jackdaws play among sttiff-winged fulmars who use their webbed feet on either side of the tail to control their flight in the turbulent airs. Fulmars only recently colonised St Brides Bay, but now there are plenty nesting in the small alcoves along this stretch of cliffs. Look for the smugglers steps set into the rock in Ogaf Mwn (cave of ore). Rock doves speed over the cliff’s edge and swing into shelter, ever wary for the scimitar-winged peregrine falcons which have returned to the west Wales in strength since DDT was banned. Last year four pairs were nesting in this area at intervals of only three miles! A smaller falcon, the kestrel, hangs motionless above the heath, eyes riveted to the ground below, to detect any small movement. From the raven’s neck one can look across Caer Bwdi to the quarry where the green and purple sandstone was taken to build St Davids Cathedral. At the end of the coastline is Ramsey Island, and far out at sea the white speck of Grassholm: white from the masses of gannets that nest there. Gannets colonised this island about 1917 and they have since spread from being a small speck of white at one end to now covering half the island. This rate of increase has been much faster than their breeding rate and has probably involved the immigration of birds from Lundy Island. Gannets forage up to 200 miles form their colonies so you are quite likely to see some from the cliffs. They really are the most spectacular of seabirds and their breath-taking dives at fish sometimes take them from 100 feet above the waves down to 50’ below them. There are various gulls that can be seen from these cliffs including the mighty black-backed gull and the pretty little kittiwake. Below the cliffs you can see cormorants and shags diving for fish, while striking black and white oystercatchers and diminutive turnstones busy themselves amongst the rocks and tidal pools.

Returning to the Celtic fort at Porth y Rhaw, this has mostly been eaten away by the sea but it is one of many that best shows the triggered ramparts that face the land. On the east side of the fort is a storm beach where three large tugs were washed ashore during a fierce storm in 1983. Despite 14’ waves all the whiskey supplies on the boat (enough to last several months) disappeared that same night. The grinding action of the sea has now reduced the tugs to a few pieces of scrap metal. At the right time of year the clifftops are crowned with colour – white sea campion, pink thrift and blue squill form a thick mat of herbs. Along with the yellow thorny gorse, these plants are some of the few that can resist the harsh action of the sea spray. Amongst the plants lives a host of small birds – rock pipits, meadow pipits and the larger skylarks all drab brown but with delightful song; pretty linnets are very common; and you may see the eye-catching wheatears and stonechats.

Beyond the left turn into the green lane (and back to Llanunwas) you will see a projecting rock called the Cradle. So-called because its shape resembled a ship of the same name that took settlers across to North America in the early 1800’s Many of the coastal rocks have interesting shapes. Black Scar for instance, a little further away, looks so similar to a German U-boat that it was actually bombed by the RAF during the war.
The last stretch of the walk back up the Green Lane is also good for birds. Yellowhammers, dunnocks, robins, great tits, goldfinches, wrens live in the thickets of gorse and hawthorn lining the lane. While from the fields you may hear the calls of Whimbrel, Curlew and Lapwing.

For a week last summer we would awake at 5.45 every morning to the sound of a flock of geese flying across the lawn toward the sea. This year we know that these Canada Geese have taken up residency on Green Scar outside the harbour mouth.

FURTHER AFIELD
Just north of Llanunwas, beyond the old airfileld is a tract of land called the Dowrog. Harriers roost here during the winter, and both Montagus and Hen Harrier have been recorded. If you’re really lucky you might see a merlin – our smallest falcon, but this area is definitely worth a look at. Further north again lies Penberi – reminiscent of the granite torrs of Dartmoor. Penberi outcrop is made up of Ordovician volcanic rock. A climb to its top is wothwhile for the view. You may flush a short-eared owl from its roost in the brcken, and Peregrines like this area too. A truly wonderful walk is between Penbery and Abereiddi and on to Porthgain, you will be looking down onto stunning beaches, seals, and beautiful coloured sea. Abereiddi and Porthgain are famous for their slate quarries. The slate is derived from sediments laid down in the Ordovician period, and can be aged by the presence of curious fossil animals called graptolites, shaped like tuning forks. The blue lagoon just north of Abereiddi is very deep and divers have been unable to reach its bottom. A great place for spinning stones. Porthgain is a wonderful harbour famous for its lime kilns and an excellent pub (the Sloop Inn).
Grassholm isn’t the only Island to be visited. Skomer and Ramsey Island from St Justinian. It is well worth the trip. Ramsey supports the largest Grey Seal population in southern Britain, as well as a teeming seabird population – guillemots and razorbills nest here in their thousands. On the island red deer have been introduced and there was even an attempt to establish golden eagles here not too long ago (unsuccessfully). As you cut through the racing Ramsey sound keep an eye out for dolphins and porpoises!

Special thanks to Paul Raggett and Paul MacDermot for doing the walks with me and for their knowledge and ideas.