It was an absolutely beautiful day, warm with a few clouds and slight breeze. The forum hadn’t been out for many trips recently and I’d missed the last one as well after being ill, so it was a great day to be on the coast birdwatching. I’d never been to South Stack (Ynys Lawd) before, I can’t drive and there’s not really any other way to get there. One of the staff had volunteered to drive the minibus for us, so I was really happy to be able to go. 

We met up at the office and it felt just like a normal day, but by the time we’d driven past the views of Eryri and arrived on site looking out at the sea sparkling I was really really excited. It felt a bit silly, I’m not great with bird ID, or even using binoculars, but it would be great to see puffins if I could.

We took a short walk down to Ellin’s tower, and we saw and heard skylark on the way. As we reached the cliffs and found somewhere to sit and watch the birds, the first thing I noticed was the noise. The absolute cacophony of birds at a distance, louder than the noise of the sea against the rocks or people chatting up on the headland. I could see the tiny black and white bodies of birds on every ledge of the rock closest to us but without the binoculars I had no idea of the real scale of the bird colony. I wanted to try and count them all, but I knew I had no chance. There were hundreds on each small ledge, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many animals in one place before.

I scanned the sea nearby as well, and there were thousands of tiny shadows bobbing up and down with the waves. The sun was blinding when it wasn’t partially covered by cloud, and the glare off the ocean drew a pathway across the water to the horizon. In the distance we could clearly see Ireland as an outline with distinct shapes of the hills. Someone spotted porpoise (I saw a shadow that I think was a porpoise!) before they disappeared into the blindingly lit patch of ocean. One of the other forum members got pictures though.

I always feel a little bit iffy anywhere near the edge of a cliff, even if it wasn’t that close and I had a nice solid rock to sit on. The excitement I’d been feeling probably didn’t help that anxiety, they’re very similar, just one’s happy. But after a while I felt calmer and then a little bit sad. I realised I couldn’t remember last time I’d done this. Gone somewhere new. Gone somewhere further from my house than college. Possibly Christmas when we went to visit my sister. This trip was in June.

We live in North Wales, there is amazing wildlife absolutely everywhere around us. But you can’t always access it without help. Especially young people who rely on busses or parents being able to drive you. The youth forum has always tried to provide that access for us, and it makes such a difference. Sometimes even having someone plan what you are going to do and experience, and just being told when to turn up and having a great time, makes it so much more manageable than having to plan for yourself.

I’ve clearly not been able to get out and enjoy nature as much as I’d like to. Even if I hadn’t realised it until I did. But I felt an almost painful longing stood on that headland just before sunset. We ended the trip by taking a quick walk over to the Iron Age settlement to look at the ancient buildings. We could walk inside them and feel the sense of scale, how the area was laid out, even which smaller spaces might have been for storage and which could have been for families. Touching the lichen covered stones and knowing they had been there for 2,000 years, where ancient hands had once been, felt unreal. We can’t really be very different from them. Stood just outside the entrance to one of the houses, looking up across the landscape, over the sea, and to the mountains of Eryri beyond, I understood exactly why they chose to live there. The landscape may have changed a lot since then, but I’m sure they felt the exact same awe and wonder that we do now.