Skomer Island

As promised in my last post if somewhat late! (As we have been to Scotland again for a couple of weeks, so even more posts to follow!) This is the first of 3 posts regarding a flying visit to Pembrokeshire the primary purpose being a visit to Skomer.

We found ourselves a great B&B not to far away and booked ourselves in for 3 nights. So day 1 we set off early to get to the ferry and get in the queue for tickets. This is advisable as there are only 3 boats a day with a maximum of 50 people on each. Thankfully we managed to get on the first boat at 10am.

The weather was glorious and the island was a picture for the most part covered in Bluebells:

On arrival we were given a short intro by the South Wales Wildlife Trust Volunteers, then let loose. We decided to a complete circuit of the island. One of our target species for the day was Chough, but as usual they let us down, but it was more than made up for by the rest....

As you would expect there were plenty of Seabirds, Guillemot, Razorbill, Puffin and Kittiwake:

In addition to these there were some Fulmars, Great Black-backed Gulls, Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Gannets flying around venturing out from the glistening white (poo covered!) Grassholm island not far away.

Inland there were plenty of smaller birds around, this Meadow Pipit among the Bluebells:

Likewise there were also many Whitethroat showing well:

This Wren was very accommodating:

Skomer is also one of the best places to see Manx Shearwater, but of course not during the day. Sadly we did see many dead Shearwater that had come to grief returning after dark a sad sight, but a regular occurrence.

It was a great few hours on the island and I would recommend it, especially in May/June. We are already planning a return visit!

For all the Skomer photos, visit:
Skomer Photos