CARDIGAN ISLAND
The only island in Ceredigion
Yes, there is Ynys Lochtyn some 10 miles to the east into Cardigan Bay, but this is accessible on foot at low water, so not a ‘proper’ island. Cardigan Island, not quite 40 acres in extent was acquired in 1944 as the first nature reserve of the Pembrokeshire Bird Protection Society, which, following several changes of name is now the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.
Rising to 172ft with no shelter and the only water being a tiny seasonal pond, the island, nevertheless, was occupied, perhaps not permanently in Iron Age times as witnessed by two settlement enclosures.
The Book of Llandaff, circa 1130 AD, provides the first written reference, the name Teithi Island, a reference to the Teifi which enters the sea just over a mile away. A century later, it was referred to as Hastiholm, the Norse for Horse Island and by 1578, as Cardigan Island.
In 1934, a major disaster occurred when the SS Herefordshire, en route to a Glasgow breakers yard, was wrecked. No lives were lost but Brown Rats scrambled ashore and quickly devastated the small colony of Puffins. The Protection Society introduced Soay Sheep in 1944, a gift from the Duke of Bedford, their descendents having grazed the island until
recently. In 1963, Cardigan Island was purchased by the Wildlife Trust and a pioneering enterprise in 1968, using Warfarin, resulted in the island being declared rat free. Alas, the Puffins have not returned, even the lure of Puffin models not proving sufficient. Thousands of Manx Shearwaters from the Pembrokeshire islands pass by on foraging flights each day between March and September, but hopes that some might tarry and establish a colony have yet to be realised.