CHURCH ISLAND

Waterside and woodlands with an easy access

For some 15 miles, the Menai Straits, a twisting channel, separates Anglesey, an island save that two bridges connect to mainland Wales. That just to the east of Church Island and designed by Thomas Telford opened in January 1826 and cut the journey time between London and Holyhead from 36 to 27 hours. A little to the west Pont Britannia, the Britannia Bridge designed by Robert Stephenson for rail traffic, opened in 1850. Following a major fire in 1970 the bridge was redesigned and now carries rail and road traffic. Church Island, less than three acres in extent, known in Welsh as Ynys Tysilio after the sixth century Saint Tysilio, is entirely taken up by a 15th Century church and surrounding churchyard. On the summit is a fine memorial to mostly local men who did not return from two world wars. Between the two bridges and famed since medieval times for shoals and rocks, with whirlpools and surges ominously known to seafarers as ‘The Swellies’, is the most treacherous section of the Menai Straits. Looking towards the Britannia Bridge several tiny islets are visible. It was here, on Ynys Welltog, that Little Egrets first nested in North Wales, rearing four young in 2002. Now, no visit to Church Island or indeed any estuary in Wales would be complete without a sighting; what a remarkable colonisation. Grey Herons share the roost with the Little Egrets. Cormorants are never far away; Shags, which breed at the eastern extremity of Anglesey, are regular in winter. In summer, Arctic, Common and Sandwich Terns feed in the Menai Straits. Shelduck are always present save when absent in late summer on their moult migration. Winter visitors include Wigeon, Teal and Red-breasted Mergansers. Ravens have nested on the Britannia Bridge while both bridges provide superb vantage points for Peregrines.