After our little break at Bluestone National Park Resort,
the sun was still shining so we decided to visit Stack Rocks & The Green
Bridge on the South West coast of Pembrokeshire.
To get to the rocks you need to pass through a military
range in Castlemartin, which is closed at certain times. It was Good Friday, so
we assumed it would be open, but you do need to ring a number to see if it’s
accessible on weekdays. (Check out
www.visitpembrokeshire.com
for more information).
There is a car park fairly near the viewpoints with
direction signs/information boards to help you on your way. Our first stop was
Stack Rocks, two isolated pillars of limestone which rise steeply from the sea.
They are important nesting sites for guillemots and kittiwakes, but neither
have returned from their migration yet. They should return in a few weeks time and we intend to go back to enjoy the spectacle.
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| Information signs |
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| Stack rocks |
On the cliffs we could see
Fulmars nesting and a single
shag. This is the first time I have seen a
shag up close and couldn't get
over how beautiful it's shiny black coat and stunning green eyes were.
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Fulmar nesting in the cliffs
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| Shag sitting on the cliffs |
Our next stop was the Green Bridge - it is renowned as one
of Wales' most iconic images from the coast – a huge, 80ft limestone arch with
the sea underneath. Sadly, sometime in the future the top of the arch will
eventually collapse into the sea and the Bridge will become a stack (like the
stack rocks nearby).
There is a viewing platform here, so you can get good pics.
From here we walked back along the cliff's path and saw a number of smaller
birds including skylarks and rock pipits.
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| The Green Bridge |
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| Rock pipit |
From here we walked back to stack rocks and admired the beauty of the area. There was a
cormorant and
black backed gulls sitting on rocks out at sea,whilst a
raven was flying above being chased by several
jackdaws.
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| Such a beautiful coastline |
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| Cormorant & a pair of black backed gulls |
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| Raven & Jackdaws (you can see the size difference of the crows) |
We continued walking along the path and saw a big nest on the opposite cliff, we got talking to a local man and he told us that it was a raven's nest. We sat there for awhile waiting to see if the raven returned, but the bird was far too clever - I think it sensed us sitting there, waiting for it. So we carried on and walked down to a spot the gentleman had recommended. It was beautiful, see the below photo...
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| A wonderful view of the cliffs |
On the way back we saw a pair of stonechat and we decided to pass the raven's nest again to see if it had returned. The raven still wasn't there, but two nosy jackdaws were snooping around. It wasn't long before they were shoo'd off by the beautiful raven and we finally could get a photo.
The path is part of the Wales Coastal Path and you can walk from here to St Govans Chapel, a small thirteenth century stone chapel that was built within the cliffs of St Govan's Head. I definitely want to do a blog on that in the future, so watch this space for that one...
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| Male & female stonechat on some brambles |
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| A pair of nosy jackdaws check out the raven's nest... |
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| ...not for long though, the raven returns to protect the nest. |
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| A sign to show where to go for the Coastal Path |
It is a great part of Pembrokeshire to explore and it would be interesting to see the Green Bridge at different times of day (Sunrise, etc). I can't wait to return and will do before this year is out :)
You can find out more about it
here.
