Walk: South Stack, Anglesey Avian Adventure

Julie Brominicks takes to the cli s of north-west Wales, a dramatic coastline where great northern divers surf wild waves and Arctic skuas bravely soar.

- Julie Brominicks

Near the bottom of the steps to South Stack Lighthouse is a seat for one carved into a fissured rock, from which you can peer through to the South Stack Cliffs.

It’s a strange experience, if you know the cli s in summer, to see them in winter. In the warmer months, they’re alive with 10,000 breeding pu ns, guillemots, razorbills, fulmar petrels, shags and kittiwakes,noisily making use of the ledges. But in winter, the rock is largely silent and still, save for the sound of crashing waves below. Without the auks, you can see the detail of the Precambrian rock, bent from the Earth’s movements into grimaces and smiles. Rust-red, blue-grey and yellow, it has a strange toughened texture, somewhat akin to partially melted plastic. Scanning it for birds, there appear to be none.And then there’s a slight movement, barely a blur, almost imagined. A rock pipit, perfectly camouflaged, appears from a crevice to feed.