A trip to Skomer Island last week. I'd not been over to Skomer for a good few years so it was lovely to get the boat over and go and visit some of our feathered neighbours. There's so much wildlife to see on and around the island but at this time of year the puffins are no doubt the main attraction. It's easy to take for granted due to the fact that the island is just a short boat ride away but it really is a special place and going to see the puffins is an incredible wildlife experience. There's not many places on the planet that you can get so close to an animal population and watch them go about their business literally at your feet; wandering around, socialising, greeting partners with a tap of beaks, hunting and returning with a beak full of sand eels and toing and froing from their burrows; it's fascinating and of course they're pretty cute too!
We saw over 20 species on our visit which included common local sightings but also the resident short eared owl which was a treat. The razorbills and guillemots tend to be harder to photograph as they nest in areas that are a little less accessible. Greater black backed gulls watching proceedings from elevated vantage points are a reminder that many of the animals on the island are vulnerable to these predators. They will attack the nocturnal manx shearwaters that nest in their tens of thousands on the island. Also nesting in burrows, they emerge at night and so in the day the only reminder that they are there are the thousands of burrows and the carcasses of those that have been picked off by the gulls.
We were also lucky enough to coincide our visit with the red campion being in full bloom. Having missed the bluebells by a couple of weeks it was lovely that the backdrop to our visit was the bright pink campion and the vibrant green of the young bracken.
