Ynys Bery

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

Ynys Bery
Ynys Bery from Ramsey Island
Ynys Bery
Geography
Coordinates51°50′56.72″N 5°20′27.02″W
Administration
Wales
CountyPembrokeshire
St David's and the Cathedral Closecommunity
Demographics
Population0

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. 'Elygogs' probably means guillemots.[3]

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

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