5.2 - Grassholm Island
Grassholm Island ( in welsh -"Ynys Gwales" )
The name Grassholm is Old Norse for 'Grass Island'.
A small flat topped island , 9 miles west of Skomer Island . Wales most distant Island .
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An RSPB Reserve since 1948 / no access .
Boat Trips around the Island - from Martins Haven.
Check Website of www.dale-sailing.co.uk
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GEOLOGY:- Basalt , Volcanic Igneous . Part of a Volcanic Ridge through Skomer Island , the Hats & Barrels Reef to the Smalls Island.
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Home to the 3rd largest Gannet Colony in the World , after St Kilda and Bass Rock.
About 39,000 breeding pairs .
At a distance the colony appears like a patch of snow on top of the Island .
In 1890 there were 500,000 puffins on the Island !
Also some Guillemots , Kittiwakes , Seals !
There are Gannets around Grassholm from February until October.
Gannets overwinter off the Iberian Penninsula and the West African coast , off Mauritania , Senegal.
Gannets make their nests out of seaweed, grass and feathers. They lay one to two eggs a year , between April and May and incubate them for 44 days and the chicks fledge at 90 days.
The name Grassholm is Old Norse for 'Grass Island'.
A small flat topped island , 9 miles west of Skomer Island . Wales most distant Island .
--------------------------------------------
An RSPB Reserve since 1948 / no access .
Boat Trips around the Island - from Martins Haven.
Check Website of www.dale-sailing.co.uk
------------------------------------
GEOLOGY:- Basalt , Volcanic Igneous . Part of a Volcanic Ridge through Skomer Island , the Hats & Barrels Reef to the Smalls Island.
------------------------------------
Home to the 3rd largest Gannet Colony in the World , after St Kilda and Bass Rock.
About 39,000 breeding pairs .
At a distance the colony appears like a patch of snow on top of the Island .
In 1890 there were 500,000 puffins on the Island !
Also some Guillemots , Kittiwakes , Seals !
There are Gannets around Grassholm from February until October.
Gannets overwinter off the Iberian Penninsula and the West African coast , off Mauritania , Senegal.
Gannets make their nests out of seaweed, grass and feathers. They lay one to two eggs a year , between April and May and incubate them for 44 days and the chicks fledge at 90 days.