Ynys_Bery

Ynys Bery

Ynys Bery

Island of Pembrokeshire, Wales

Ynys Bery is a small island south of Ramsey Island, Pembrokeshire, Wales, in the community of St David's and the Cathedral Close.

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Etymology

The island's name in Welsh means falcon's Island, according to an 1852 book,[1] but an earlier work of 1811 by Richard Fenton calls it the kite's island.[2]

History

Fenton, in 1811, describes the island, and its neighbour Ynys y Cantwr:

...with high craggy cliffs, producing a thick matted herbage mixed with scurvy-grass and the sea pink, affording pasture for a few sheep, and stocked with rabbits, puffins, elygogs,[note 1] gulls and other sea fowl.[2]

In 1903, the S.S. Graffoe (a 2,996-ton steamship bound from Glasgow to Montevideo with 3,800 tons of coal) struck Ramsey Island and sank at the northern end of Ynys Bery. The wreck lies at a depth of 15 metres, and is one of many Pembrokeshire wrecks popular with divers.[4]

Geography

Ynys Bery's highest point is 71 metres[5] (233 feet), the highest of Wales's islets.

Flora and fauna

Together with neighbouring Ynys Cantwr, Ynys Bery is a breeding ground for lesser black-backed gulls. In the spring the island is covered with pale blue squill.[6]

Notes

  1. [N 1]
    'Elygogs' probably means guillemots.[3]

References

  1. [1]
    Will. Basil Jones (1852). The History and Antiquities of Saint David's: By Will. Basil Jones and Edw. A. Freeman. Vol. 1. Pickering, Parker and Petheram. p. 17.
  2. [2]
    Fenton, Richard (1811). A historical tour through Pembrokeshire. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & co. p. 125. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  3. [3]
    Driver, T. (2018). "The Green Bridge (of Wales) and Elegug Stacks, Stack Rocks (407869)". Coflein. RCAHMW. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  4. [4]
    "Wreck of the Graffoe". Cardiff Times. 14 March 1903. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  5. [5]
    Ynys Bery on www.hill-bagging.co.uk
  6. [6]
    "Ramsay Island". Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Retrieved 11 August 2019.

51.84909°N 5.34084°W / 51.84909; -5.34084
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