Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Prickly sow-thistle
Sonchus asper
Dandelion
Taraxacum
sect.
Spring squill
Scilla verna
Red fescue
Festuca rubra
Perennial rye-grass
Lolium perenne
Fern-grass
Catapodium rigidum
Cock's-foot
Dactylis glomerata
Soft-brome
Bromus hordeaceus
ssp.
hordeaceus
Yorkshire-fog
Holcus lanatus
WormsHead,andtoalesserextentthemainland cliffsincorporating LewesCastle, ThurbaandPavil-
and, is the largest seabird colony in Glamorgan with kittiwake, guillemot, razorbill, fulmar
Fulmarus gla-
cialis
andshag
Phalacrocorax aristotelis
present.Theaukandkittiwake breedingpopulations areregion-
ally important, the only other colonies in the Bristol Channel occurring on the island of Lundy, although
far more significant numbers of birds occur along the coast of south Pembrokeshire. For centuries loc-
al people, who collected the eggs, exploited the colonies for food. Following the area's designation as a
National Nature Reserve, however, access to the top of the Outer Head was prohibited between 1 March
and31August. Atonetime volunteers patrolled the area toturnaway casual visitors incase they affected
the nesting birds, but this practice was abandoned in the 1980s. In 2004 it was decided that the small
number of visitors who make the journey to the Head are not a problem and the warning sign has since
been removed. No amount of disturbance can compete, however, with the amazing mass picnic of Bethel
Sunday School, Llanelli, which took place on the island at the height of the breeding season in 1854. All
400 members of the school marched to Llanelli docks to the singing of the chapel choir and set sail on
two ships captained by members of the Sunday school. The sea was calm and they landed safely on the
island, where they said prayers and opened the huge hampers they had brought ashore. By the time their
picnic was over the tide had retreated so all the people crossed the causeway and marched singing along
the cliffsto Rhossili village. The Rector saw this invasion coming and ordered the church bells to be rung
in welcome. It was long remembered in Rhossili village that the unexpected guests drank the village well
dry.
The remains of puffins, dating back at least 10,000 years, were found in Port-Eynon cave in the early
1930s, but the first contemporary account of puffins breeding in Gower was in 1848, when the species
was reported to nest in rabbit burrows on the Worm. Predation by rats caused a decline towards the end
of the nineteenth century; it seems that a few puffins continued to breed at this site until comparatively
recently, but there are no birds nesting today (Fig. 93). Rats are omnivorous opportunists that will readily
feedontheeggsandchicksofground-nestingseabirds,andtheywillalsokilladultbirds.The
Glamorgan
County History
published in 1936 noted that 'rats are a serious menace to the species that nest in access-
ible sites; they have thinned out the Puffins to such an extent that only some half-dozen pairs survive and
these have been forced to take refuge in the cracks in the sheer north face of the Head.' The total number
of birds was small, the highest count in the period from 1980 to 1992 being five individuals. There have
been no studies of the number of birds taken by rats, or indeed the number of rats on the Worm, but their
presence iswellknown,asindicated bythequotefromDylanThomas.Predation byratsmaywellstill be
