Outing Details

Skomer 2023

3 visits to Skomer Island over a four day visit.

Organised By:??Dave Atkinson?

Start Date: ?11/07/2023

Party Size:??7

Report by Helen Webb

SkomerIsland 2023

OPS Wildlife Trip

3 days on an island

 PUFFINS

After a 6am start and a 4.5hour car journey we arrived at the Boat Terminal to collect our prepaid tickets.The July
weather forecast was not great but we battled on regardless.

The steep slope down to the gangway and then stone steps back up to the embarkation point meant that we were already quite tired before we began!

The 30 minute boat ride was pleasant with a glimpse of a couple of dolphins breaching in the waves.

Every year as we get that little bit older and a little less fit the 96 stone steps taking us off the boat and up to the meeting point just about cripples us. After a short breather we then have to traipse up more steep and stony paths to the central area where we take a breath – or two!

We all decided to spend the first morning with the Puffins but as we set off for another 20-minute walk we spotted the adult swallows feeding their chicks. Luckily the young birds were in a great spot with an overcast sky so photographing was a little easier.

Next the puffins – we walked to the point where the birds are nesting in the burrows. The young pufflings are nearly ready to fledge now – a little early in the year but they are near the entrances of the burrows stretching their wings ready to fly off at night. The cliff edge was busy with people and the puffins were flying sofast towards us that getting sharp shots was difficult. Many of the birds were coming in without sand eels which really wasn’t what we wanted and to see the birds early enough proved almost impossible.

We moved away from the busy area and managed to find a place where the birds were coming in from the left making it easier for us to get an early focus and track them as they came in. Still most of the birds were not carrying any sand eels so most of the shots we were taking would be going in the bins back at home.

Several hours later with batteries running down – ours not the cameras – we decided to take a walk away from the puffins and try to see signs of the short-eared owls.

 Keith and I were lucky enough to spot one as we walked on the other side of the island – at distance but good enough for record shots.

Usually, we stay on the island and are there earlier in the year. This time the pipits and stonechats seemed to have had their broods and were nowhere to be seen. The swallows second brood were already out of the nest and the youngest were the only ones left for the parents to feed.

The call of the curlew resonated around the island as did the oystercatcher and the ever present gulls’ squawking as they patiently waited for the return at night of the Manx shearwaters – ready to attack and kill some of these nocturnal seabirds from the biggest colony in the world.

The day ends after an exhausting 5 hours on the island. The boat drops us off at the mainland only for us to walk up a very steep slope to the car park. The accommodation was heaven – very relaxing and, if we would have had the energy a hot tub was situated just outside the front door.

The local pub served BIG meals (tick in the box for Les) and Guinness (tick in the box for Dave Stroud).

A very tiring 3 days convinced us that next year we would stay on the island and avoid those bloody steps up and down each day.

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