Plas y Brenin is working with the RSPB to install a camera to monitor a Chough nesting site in Mousetrap Zawn, Gogarth.

Each year choughs nest in an out-of-sight cave in Mousetrap Zawn, and the RSPB are keen to install a camera to allow members of the public to view them.  Earlier this month, Plas y Brenin staff Tim Neill and Adam Harmer abseiled down and made a survey of the cave on behalf of the RSPB.

A camera is already mounted across from Red Walls, the images of which can be viewed in Ellins Tower, the RSPB visitor centre sitting atop South Stack. From their initial inspection, Tim and Adam concluded that it would be possible to install a second camera in Mousetrap Zawn, to view the chough nesting site.

Tim is a Gogarth devotee, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the cliffs, and he was keen to make clear that climbers would not be affected.  The proposed camera site is not in an area that climbers would choose to explore, even by (some) Gogarth standards!

The South Stack reserve is protected under UK and European legislation for its heathland and chough nesting sites. Much of the reserve management focuses on maintaining the heathland and providing feeding opportunities for the choughs.

Dave Bateson, the RSPB Warden for South Stack said, 'Tim and Adam did a great job, and for the first time we have images of inside the cave and of the nest.'

'Best of all is that Tim and Adam were confident that it is feasible to get to a location suitable for a camera, such that we will have live video of the chough nest on view in Ellins Tower from March.'

Source: Plas y Brenin

   

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