About Grassholm

Grassholm, like all the other islands was christened by the Vikings (Norse men). It means 'Green or Grass Island'. It is approximately 10 miles from the mainland and is made up of basaltic, igneous rock and is thought to be a continuation of Skomer Island. This distance and the fact that it is barren has meant that man has not had much impact on the island. The only evidence of man's activities is a stone built compound in the centre of the island, which may date back to the Middle Ages, or even earlier. Wool was an important part of the economy way back then and sheep, who do not need water if the grass is succulent, may have been grazed there.

During the late 16th century the value of wool declined so grazing sheep on this remote island would have become less appealing. Once the sheep no longer grazed on the island, the grass would have become denser and this may be when the Puffins colonised the island, somewhere around the 19th century. Around this time the Puffins inhabited the island in 10's of 1000's, now there are none. The burrowing activity would not be feasible on the soil now, their burrows would have collapsed and this is perhaps when they decided to move to Skomer and Skokholm. The Gannets have now colonised the island but there is still a lot of evidence from the Puffin era.

The first mention of Gannets on Grassholm was in 1860. In 1872 12 pairs were recorded as breeding.

By the 1890's 200 or more were seen to be there, then the Cardiff Naturalists Society Robert Drane and the lessee of Skomer, J J Neale recorded seeing 300 breeding pairs in 1905.

The birds may have relocated to Grassholm after being disturbed on the neighbouring (in Gannet terms) island of Lundy. Mr Harman, who owned both Lundy and Grassholm handed Grassholm over to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1947 to preserve the Gannetry. 

In 1964 the population was estimated at 15,500, which increased to 30,000 by 1988. This makes Grassholm the second largest Gannetry in the Northern Hemisphere after St Kilda and the third largest in the world.

Grassholm is only 22 acres and there are at least 60,000 Gannets plus their chicks and some small colonies of Guillemots, Razorbills, Kittiwakes and Shags.

The noise, and yes, smell!! As you approach the island is phenomenal, once seen it is never forgotten. The brilliant white seen from the shore is not the colour of the rock but the birds themselves. They live within pecking distance of each other and have evolved a series of vocal and postural messages. They do not spend all their time on their nests; there are always 1000's in the air above the island. Gannets fish by diving headfirst into the sea from all angles and from great heights.

 

The Gannet

  • Nest: Seaweed, grass, feathers 1-2ft high 
  • Egg: one or two Egg
  • Colour: On laying, a pale blue turning white becoming yellow and brown
  • Laid: April to May 
  • Incubation: 44 days 
  • Fledging: 90 days 

A large dazzlingly white bird, long narrow wings with black tips, spanning 2m (6ft). Cigar shaped body in flight. During breeding season the head plumage and neck a tinged yellowish buff. The spear shaped bill is slate blue with a horn-coloured tip. The legs are slate blue with toes and tarsus lined with green. A chick is black and featherless then develops downy-white plumage, later turns dark speckled white by the time it leaves the nest.

  • Voice: Silent except at the nest where it croaks loudly 
  • Habitat: Cliffs and tops of rock islands. Flies mainly to the continental shelf water and adjacent seas in the winter. Food: Cod, Pollack, whiting, haddock, sprats, pilchards, mackerel and eels.
  • Mainly eastern Atlantic, Britain, some in Ireland, Iceland, Faeroes, Norway and one colony in France. Some can be found on the Canadian eastern seaboard in the Gulf of St Lawrence.

There are Gannets around Grassholm from February until October, however the breeding season is shorter. Gannets travel as far south in the winter as South Africa. The older birds will stay in European waters. They can also fly daily to the waters of northern Spain. 

This is one of the greatest spectacles of the natural world. 

 

Interesting 'snippets'

  • In the story of Branwen the Daughter of Llyr, as recounted in the Mabinogi (The Maginogion - translated by Lady Charlotte E Guest) Grassholm is 'Gwales' in Penfro and is supposedly a place of eternal youth where men stayed for fourscore years without getting any older. 
  • The great naturalist Robert Drane wrote of Grassholm:-
    'It is at once so near, and yet so remote; so weird, and blank, and solitary, yet still within the kingdom of mankind. So barren and inhospitable, yet so secure and compassable, primitive and free, that it becomes at once, one's own estate in fee.' 
  • Marloes fishermen used to spend nights on the island when they were fishing in the days of oar and sail. 
  • In 1890 a party of naval and military officers from Pembroke Dock went shooting Gannets and taking and smashing eggs. Members of the Cardiff Naturalist Society witnessed this and they were brought before the bench in Haverfordwest in August of that year and fined a total of £22. The magistrates described it as 'a somewhat novel case .. but it was also a charge that could not be passed over lightly.