The Skerries (

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

: ''Ynysoedd y Moelrhoniaid'') () coming from the Old Norse word are a group of sparsely vegetated rocky islets ( skerries), with a total area of about lying offshore from

Carmel Head Carmel Head ( Welsh: ''Trwyn y Gadair'') is a prominent coastal headland on the northwest tip of the island of Anglesey. It is a designated SSSI because of its geological interest for the Carmel Head Thrust fault where Precambrian rocks have ...

at the northwest corner 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 ...

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 islands are important as a breeding site for seabirds, and they attract divers, who come to visit the numerous shipwrecks. The

Skerries Lighthouse The Skerries Lighthouse was first lit on the highest point of the largest island in The Skerries, Isle of Anglesey after 1716. A patent for the lighthouse was subsequently obtained in 1824. The builder was William Trench, who lost his son off ...

sits atop the highest point in the islands. The islands can be visited by charter boat from

Holyhead Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and i ...

. The individual islets are accessible from one another at low tide and by small bridges. The name "Skerry" is the Scottish diminutive of the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

"sker", and means a small rocky reef or island. The

name for these islands, 'Ynysoedd y Moelrhoniaid', means "Islands of the Seals". An alternative name provided by some English-language sources is 'St Daniel's Isle'.

Seabirds

The islands have a

seabird colony A bird colony is a large congregation of individuals of one or more species of bird that nest or roost in proximity at a particular location. Many kinds of birds are known to congregate in groups of varying size; a congregation of nesting bir ...

, which is particularly important for the

Arctic tern The Arctic tern (''Sterna paradisaea'') is a tern in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe (as far south as Brittany), Asia, and North America (as far south ...

, numbers of which are nationally important; the

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 ...

breeds occasionally in very small numbers. In 2018 two roseate tern chicks fledged here for the first time in a decade. The following species also breed:

Atlantic puffin The Atlantic puffin ('), also known as the common puffin, is a species of seabird in the auk family. It is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean; two related species, the tufted puffin and the horned puffin is found in the northeastern ...

black-legged kittiwake The black-legged kittiwake (''Rissa tridactyla'') is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae. This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' as ''Larus tridactylus''. The English ...

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 ...

herring gull Herring gull is a common name for several birds in the genus ''Larus'', all formerly treated as a single species. Three species are still combined in some taxonomies: * American herring gull (''Larus smithsonianus'') - North America * European h ...

and

lesser black-backed gull The lesser black-backed gull (''Larus fuscus'') is a large gull that breeds on the Atlantic coasts of Europe. It is migratory, wintering from the British Isles south to West Africa. It has increased dramatically in North America, most common alo ...

. Because of these birds, in particular the terns, the island 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,

Cemlyn Bay Cemlyn Bay is a bay on the northwest coast of Anglesey, North Wales, approximately 2.5 km west of Wylfa nuclear power station, within the community of Cylch-y-Garn. Separated from the bay by a shingle beach is a brackish lagoon, which is f ...

and

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 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 ...

. The Skerries have also been designated as 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 ...

. Terns 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 islands are wardened by the

RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment th ...

during the tern breeding season, and management measures they have undertaken here include control of introduced tree mallow (''

Lavatera arborea ''Malva arborea'' (also known as ''Lavatera arborea'', or, more recently as ''Malva eriocalyx''), the tree mallow, is a species of mallow native to the coasts of western Europe and the Mediterranean region, from Ireland and Britain south to Alge ...

'') and provision of nestboxes; these measures as aimed particularly at helping to increase the attractiveness of the site to breeding

s, although it is accepted that the future number of pairs of this species here is primarily dependent on the overall health of the

population. The site came to national attention among

birders Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

briefly in July 2005 when it attracted a

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 ...

, a species which only a very small number of birders had previously seen in Britain.

Tidal power

The area between the islands and mainland Anglesey is the site of the planne
Skerries Tidal Stream Array
being developed b
Marine Current Turbines
and RWE npower.

References

External links

Location map (Multimap)The Skerries Lighthouse (Anglesey Heritage)Wave and tidal power get more supportSeaGen Wales
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skerries, Isle of Anglesey Islands of Anglesey Sites of Special Scientific Interest on Anglesey Important Bird Areas of Wales Cylch-y-Garn Skerries