Just over a couple of weeks ago it was time for my annual visit to Skomer Island in Pembrokeshire, a place I always love to visit at least once a year if I can. Late May is normally my preferred time, when the Puffins are back on the island in force, and (hopefully) there are Short Eared Owl back on the island too. The month of June gets booked up very quickly, being the peak time for Puffins bringing in sand eels for any Pufflings, and this year there was no second date available.
The day before, Pembrokeshire experienced some horrendous weather, with torrential thundery showers, including hail "the size of pebbles". However, on our arrival the sun was out, the sea calm, and all looked good. The forecast was for a cloudy but dry day, with the wind in the right direction. The day was on.
Our booking was for a 10am sailing, and our boat, the Dale Queen, gave us a smooth ride over, with onboard "entertainment" from Jim and his Herring gull sidekick Tonto. Just that challenge of negotiating the 84 steps winding up the cliff doesn`t get any easier, in fact the opposite these days. It was then the mandatory welcome talk with the wardens, and then we headed off to the farm and North valley to see if there were any Short Eared Owls around.
Having stayed there for a while, there was no show, and with the island to explore and some time wanted at The Wick, it was time to move on. It didn`t take long before a sweeping, damp and pretty chilly sea mist came in, and stayed around for a couple of hours.
Eventually, we had some time at The Wick, where the main concentration of Puffins are. Considering they have had the highest count of Puffins in this year, some 52-53,000 birds, the Wick seemed a little subdued, and it was possible some of the birds might have been affected by the weather the day before.
Timing can be everything on Skomer, and although yet again I didn`t see any Short Eared owls around (there were meant to be 8 pairs/16 birds), there was still plenty of other wildlife around, including Chough, Guillemots and Razorbills.
It`s always sad to leave the island, particularly if that`s your only visit for the year, but - health permitting - i`ll be back next year.
