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Ynys LlanddwynYnys Llanddwyn is a small island off the west coast of Anglesey, north Wales. The nearest town is Newborough. Ths island is very interesting geologically with pillow lava, Jasper formations and aeolian sand deposits. The island also forms part of the National Nature Reserve of Newbough Warren which includes the extensive and floristically rich sand dune system. Ynys Llanddwyn is not always an island; it remains attached to the mainland at all but the highest tides. It provides excellent views of Snowdonia and the Lleyn Peninsula. The island is very rich in legends and in particular the association with Dwynwen. The name Llanddwyn means "The church of St. Dwynwen". Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers, making her the Welsh equivalent of St. Valentine. Her Saint's day is January 25 and is often celebrated by the Welsh with cards and flowers. There are more than 10 miles of footpaths crossing Ynys Llanddwyn and Newborough Warren and it is a very popular place to visit. The island provides a worth-while goal after the mile-long walk along the beach from the nearest car park. Ynys Llanddwyn, with the neighbouring beach, has been awarded Blue Flag Beach status in recognition of the cleanliness of the sea and the beaches. Legend of Dwynwen Dwynwen lived during the 5th century AD and was one of 24 daughters of St. Brychan, a Welsh prince from Brecon. She fell in love with a young man named Maelon, but rejected his advances. Stories differ but it may have been because she wanted to remain chaste and become a nun or, more likely because her father wished her to marry another man. She prayed to be released from the unhappy love and dreamed that she was given a potion to do this. However, the potion turned her true love Maelon to ice. She then prayed for three wishes; that her love Maelon be released from the ise; that all true lovers find happiness, and that she should never again wish to be married. She then retreated to the solitude of Llanddwyn Island to became a hermit. The island became a very popular place of pilgrimage in the middle ages such that it became the very wealthy during Tudor times. This enabled the construction of a substantial chapel in the 16th century and erected on the site of Dwynwen's original chapel. The ruins of this are still visible today. History Llanddwyn Island is close to the southern entrance to the Menai Strait and as a consequence it became important navigational marker for shipping carrying slate from Bangor, Wales, Caernarfon and Y Felinheli. A beacon, called Twr Bach, was built at the tip of the island to provide guidance to ships heading for the Strait. Another lighthouse, Twr Mawr, which was modelled on the windmills of Anglesey, was built nearby in 1845. The older lighthouse has now returned to service after a modern light was placed on top. A row of single story cottages were built on the main island across a small causeway from the lighthouses to house maritime pilots. Some of these cottages have been restored, with one housing an exhibition about the local wildlife. From 1840 a lifeboat was also stationed there. It was manned by the pilots as well as volunteers from Newborough; the cannon that was used to summon the lifeboat crew still stands near the cottages. During its time up to the closure in 1903 the lifeboat from here saved 101 lives in 35 separate incidents. Natural History Llanddwyn Island is part of the Newborough Warren National Nature Reserve which was one of the first areas in Britain to become a National Nature Reserve. There are a wide variety of habitats including extensive dunes, mudflats and saltmarshes and they support a wide range of plants, birds, mammals and invertebrates. The flowers found on the island many common speacies such as include Herb-robert, Bluebells, Bird's-foot trefoil, Thrift and together with less common species such as Yellow horned poppy, Scurvy-grass, Round-leaved wintergreen, Grass of Parnassus and a variety of native orchids. The cliffs around the island also support a variety of nesting seabirds, including Cormorant, Shag and Oystercatcher. Ynys yr Adar (Bird Rock), a small islet off the tip of Llanddwyn, supports one percent of the total British breeding population of cormorants. Waders such as Turnstone, Sanderling and Dunlin are also found along the shores with Ringed Plover nesting on the some of the beaches. Terns and various species of gull can be seen fishing in the bay. A flock of Soay sheep has been introduced onto the island as part of the conservation policy.
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