Puffintastic at Skomer
The gorgeous residents of Skomer
You can walk around the whole island and on my first trip I walked around half of the island but this year I was determined to get some puffins in the air with sand eels and for that I needed to be at the cliffs called ‘The Wick’, for the whole time. You do see some of the island on the way there and back again and I still photographed razorbills and guillemots as they were sitting waiting for us as our boat arrived. It is a steep set of steps to climb once you exit the boat so I made sure I had a large enough camera bag to fit in all the essentials.
I have a Canon 80d and I took an EF 100-400mm lens with me. I didn’t change lens for the whole trip - I find that I may want to for a landscape shot (of which there are many) but this focal length really suits me and the birds. I don’t have any fancy bird tracking on my camera but I found that by standing opposite the cliff at the Wick and following the puffins in their fairly predictable loops before they land I was able to get some flying photos that I was pleased with. These bird are speedy though so I do have (literally) hundreds that are either out of focus or only half a bird! Give yourself a fast shutter speed and make sure you are on the burst setting.
I also love just putting down my camera and watching their interactions. They are quite talkative to each other and you can see the interactions between pair, puffins mate for life, and within the communities that exist. They are really tiny birds, much smaller than they look like in photograph and will happily scurry quite close. You do need to watch out if thy land with their fish that you don’t block the way to their burrow as they will want to scurry there as quickly as possible before being attacked by the predatory gulls! There are volunteers stationed all day at the Wick to make sure people are not too overly enthusiastic with their photography and don’t scare the birds.
The biggest rule they have on Skomer is that you cannot leave the path. This is due to the incredible amount of burrows for all of the seabirds and rabbits on the island - not only would you be damaging their homes you may well break an ankle! So although you can use a tripod (I never have done) and sit down this must be on the path.
I love Skomer and I would definitely recommend the experience to any wildlife or landscape photographer! Please do contact me through my contact if there’s a detail I have forgotten to add that you want to know….
The Organisation:
This was an day trip as the dates for accommodation on the island hadn’t fitted in for me this year - one year I would love to stay here for the sunset and sunrise. However, a 5 hour trip from Longley Lodge at St Martins is still a fantastic experience.
I had booked an airbnb for the night before neaOrganisation: r Haverfordwest and this is a nice place to stay due to it’s proximity to the boat across. The boats themselves need to be booked well in advance from Pembrokeshire Islands boat trips and they were £50 each this year - this is for a return trip with approximately 5 hours in between the way there and the return trip. You need to be at Lockley Lodge to confirm your tickets an hour before and you park in a National Trust car park just across the lane - if you are a member this pays for the £5 parking fee.
I went on the 12 pm sailing as with the long drive on the Friday it gives a chance to have a leisurely and large breakfast in the morning to save eating on the island - there are places for this but I can’t bring myself to leave the puffins in order to do this. If you do want to eat make sure to take something as there isn’t anything to buy once you get to the island.
Can you spot the fish tail?
