Cemlyn Bay is a bay on the northwest coast of

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, ...

, approximately 2.5 km west of

Wylfa nuclear power station Wylfa nuclear power station ( cy, Atomfa'r Wylfa) is a Magnox nuclear power station undergoing decommissioning. Wylfa is situated west of Cemaes Bay on the island of Anglesey, off the northwestern coast of Wales. Construction of the two 490MW ...

, within the

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, t ...

Cylch-y-Garn Cylch-y-Garn is a community (Wales), community in Anglesey, Wales, located on the north west coast of the county, west of Amlwch, north east of Holyhead and north west of Llangefni. It includes the villages of Llanfair-yng-Nghornwy, Llanrhyd ...

. Separated from the bay by a shingle beach is a brackish

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons ...

, which is fed by a number of small streams. A weir at the western (Bryn Aber) end of the beach regulates the lagoon's water level. The site was designated a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

in 1957, and is currently part of the Anglesey Heritage Coast and the Isle of Anglesey

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...

. The Cemlyn estate is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

; the lagoon and its immediate surrounds comprise Cemlyn Nature Reserve (25.2 ha in extent, set up in 1971 and leased by the

North Wales Wildlife Trust The North Wales Wildlife Trust (NWWT) (Welsh: ''Ymddiriedolaeth Natur Gogledd Cymru'') is the Wildlife Trust for North Wales. Established in 1962, it covers the vice counties of Anglesey, Caernarfonshire, Merionethshire, Denbighshire and Flint ...

). The

Anglesey Coastal Path The Anglesey Coastal Path (formally the Isle of Anglesey Coastal Path) is a long-distance footpath around the island of Anglesey (Ynys Môn) in North Wales. The route is part of the Wales Coast Path. Description The path mainly follows the ...

passes through it.

Birds

On islands at the western end of the lagoon, there is an important

tern Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated as a subgroup of the family Laridae which includes gulls and skimmers and consists of e ...

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

, with the only breeding

Sandwich tern The Sandwich tern (''Thalasseus sandvicensis'') is a tern in the family Laridae. It is very closely related to the lesser crested tern (''T. bengalensis''), Chinese crested tern (''T. bernsteini''), Cabot's tern (''T. acuflavidus''), and ele ...

s in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. The numbers of breeding Sandwich terns have increased to around 1,500 pairs in recent years, making Cemlyn the third-largest colony in the United Kingdom.

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

and

common tern The common tern (''Sterna hirundo'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, its four subspecies breeding in temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. It is strongly migrator ...

s breed here regularly in smaller numbers but

roseate tern The roseate tern (''Sterna dougallii'') is a species of tern in the family Laridae. The genus name ''Sterna'' is derived from Old English "stearn", "tern", and the specific ''dougallii'' refers to Scottish physician and collector Dr Peter McDo ...

now only occasionally. For this reason Cemlyn has been designated as part of the Ynys Feurig, Cemlyn Bay and The Skerries

Special Protection Area A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certa ...

along with two other nearby sites,

Ynys Feurig Ynys Feurig (also spelt Ynys Feirig) is the name for a set of three small inter-connected low-lying inshore tidal rocky islets (3.1 ha in extent), lying off from the west coast of Anglesey, North Wales, just north of the village of Rhosneigr and s ...

and The Skerries, and all three are also classed by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Inte ...

. Birds interchange regularly between all three sites, and form part of a larger

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the C ...

tern population together with birds at sites in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

such as

Rockabill Island Rockabill () is a group of two islands, "The Rock" and "The Bill", lying in the western Irish Sea about 6 kilometres east-north-east of Skerries, County Dublin, Ireland. An alternative Irish name, ''Carraig Dhá Bheola'', meaning ''Two Li ...

. The tern colony is wardened from May to August. Other breeding birds found at Cemlyn include

black-headed gull The black-headed gull (''Chroicocephalus ridibundus'') is a small gull that breeds in much of the Palearctic including Europe and also in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory and winters further south, but some birds ...

ringed plover The common ringed plover or ringed plover (''Charadrius hiaticula'') is a small plover that breeds in Arctic Eurasia. The genus name ''Charadrius'' is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives fr ...

oystercatcher The oystercatchers are a group of waders forming the family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, ''Haematopus''. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and South East Asia. The ...

and shelduck. The site is locally important for wintering wildfowl, with wigeon,

shoveler The shovelers or shovellers are four species of dabbling ducks with long, broad spatula-shaped beaks: * Red shoveler, ''Anas platalea'' * Cape shoveler, ''Anas smithii'' * Australasian shoveler, ''Anas rhynchotis'' * Northern shoveler, ''Anas ...

and

teal alt=American teal duck (male), Green-winged teal (male) Teal is a greenish-blue colour. Its name comes from that of a bird — the Eurasian teal (''Anas crecca'') — which presents a similarly coloured stripe on its head. The word is oft ...

. Cemlyn has attracted a number of vagrant birds. It is famous among twitchers as the site where a

bridled tern The bridled tern (''Onychoprion anaethetus'') is a seabird of the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus comes from ' meaning "claw" or "nail", and , meaning "saw". The specific ...

spent several weeks in July 1988, and where the similarly rare (in a British context)

sooty tern The sooty tern (''Onychoprion fuscatus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans, returning to land only to breed on islands throughout the equatorial zone. Taxonomy The sooty tern was described by Carl Linnae ...

was present on and off in July 2005. Both species had at these times been seen by only a very small number of birders in Britain. More recently, a

squacco heron The squacco heron (''Ardeola ralloides'') is a small heron, long, of which the body is , with wingspan. It is of Old World origins, breeding in southern Europe and the Greater Middle East. Behaviour The squacco heron is a migrant, wintering ...

was present in June 2015.

Other biological interest

The shingle ridge supports a maritime plant community; species present here include

sea kale ''Crambe maritima'', common name sea kale, seakale or crambe, is a species of halophytic (salt-tolerant) flowering plant in the genus '' Crambe'' of the family Brassicaceae. It grows wild along the coasts of mainland Europe and the British I ...

, sea beet,

sea campion ''Silene uniflora'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name sea campion. Description ''Silene uniflora'' is a herbaceous perennial plant, similar in appearance to the bladder campion ('' Silene vulg ...

, thrift and yellow horned poppy. Around the edges of the lagoon, saltmarsh plant communities are present, with species such as

sea aster ''Tripolium pannonicum'', called sea aster or seashore aster and often known by the synonyms ''Aster tripolium'' or ''Aster pannonicus'', is a flowering plant, native to Eurasia and northern Africa, that is confined in its distribution to salt m ...

sea purslane Sea purslane is a common name for several plants and may refer to: * ''Halimione portulacoides'', in family Amaranthaceae * ''Honckenya peploides'', in family Caryophyllaceae * ''Sesuvium maritimum'', in family Aizoaceae * ''Sesuvium portulacastrum ...

, Danish scurvygrass and saltmarsh

orache ''Atriplex'' () is a plant genus of about 250 species, known by the common names of saltbush and orache (; also spelled orach). It belongs to the subfamily Chenopodioideae of the family Amaranthaceae ''s.l.''. The genus is quite variable and w ...

Grey mullet Grey mullet can mean any of several fish in the family ''Mugilidae'' (the mullets) and having a greyish hue: * Flathead grey mullet, ''Mugil cephalus'' * Thicklip grey mullet, '' Chelon labrosus'' * Boxlip grey mullet, ''Oedalechilus labeo The b ...

are found in the lagoon.

Gallery

Image:cemlynlagoon.JPG,

Tern Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated as a subgroup of the family Laridae which includes gulls and skimmers and consists of e ...

colony in lagoon Image:cemlyntwitcher.JPG, Twitcher admiring sooty tern Image:cemlynterns.JPG,

Sooty Sooty is a British children's television media franchise created by Harry Corbett incorporating primarily television and stage shows. The franchise originated with his fictional glove puppet character introduced to television in 1955, with the ...

and

s in colony Image:cemlynwest.JPG, Looking west Image:Spotted Redshank Cemlyn Bay.jpg, A spotted redshank on the edge of the lagoon Image:Cemlyn sunset.jpg, Sunset at Cemlyn Bay

References

External links

North Wales Wildlife Trust

seafishingandwalking.co.uk website - Sandwich Terns and Six Spot Burnet Moths
{{Anglesey Nature reserves in Anglesey Lagoons of Wales Sites of Special Scientific Interest on Anglesey Important Bird Areas of Wales Cylch-y-Garn Bodies of water of Anglesey