Wales, Skomer Island - Atlantic Puffin
Country: Wales, Pembrokeshire
Destination: Skomer Island
Traveller guidance and Kit recommendations are at the end of this article.
Click to enlarge images
Skomer is a small island off the the west coast of Wales and is run and managed by a Wildlife Trust. It is a national nature reserve, a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and also a Special Protection Area. The surrounding waters are a marine nature reserve and the island is also known for its archeological interest: standing stone, stone circles, and prehistoric inhabitation remains. The primary photographic species is the Atlantic Puffin, although there are Short-eared Owl and Manx Shearwater. There is a more comprehensive wildlife list here in Wikipedia .
Well known for its Atlantic Puffin, there is so much more : including Manx Shearwater, Dolphin, Harbour Porpoise, Atlantic Grey Seal, Razorbill, Gannet, Fulmar, Short-eared Owl and the unique Skomer Vole. The island is surrounded by some of the richest waters for wildlife off the British Isles. During the Spring the island is covered in a display of Bluebells, followed by shades of pink during the summer with a carpet of Campion.
Be warned: The weather can result in delayed and cancelled sailings, due to wind and swell even when the weather isn’t that bad. You will understand why when you see the landing jetties. Therefore you might be staying on the island for a longer, or shorter, period than you planned or booked. Bringing an extra day’s ration is essential.
To stand any chance of staying on the island during key times of the breeding season, May through July, you really need to join the Trust . This will basically put you further up the booking system pecking-order ! One can, of course travel with an organised tour, there are several companies running workshops on the island. However, we know people who have joined workshops, and been somewhat disappointed: in short, caveat emptor . There are very good tours and leaders, others not so, therefore do your own due dilligence. We have only ever travelled there independently. However, we can recommend two professional photographers, of who we have some knowledge, Drew Buckley and Richard Peters , who both organise their own trips to and around the island.
We travelled to Skomer on 2 consecutive years: one in early-May during nest-building and the following year in mid-June while they were feeding their young. We stayed in the self-catering “old farmhouse” hostel on the island both times, which requires fairly detailed planning outlined in the traveller guide at the end.
Day trips to the island are available, however if you want to shoot around dawn and dusk you need to stay overnight on the island. An advantage is gained here too because the island population outside of the public landing times is only around 30 people (staff, volunteers, & guests) ; the bunkhouse accomodates about 14 guests. In season there is a minimum stay of two or more nights. The morning departure to the island sails around 8am and there are B&B in the area. We highly recommend Monk Haven Manor which goes the “extra mile”: it accommodates its guest with an early breakfast timed around ferry sailing times and they will even sort out your ferry ticket for you. The manor is less than 10mins drive to the farm car park near the jetty. Allow another 30mins to walk down to the jetty with all your food and kit; you might need to make multiple trips. The farmer does offer a baggage handling service, but you still need to allow time because it is on ad-hoc basis.
Additional advantages of staying on the island are seeing the Manx Shearwater that come in off the sea in their thousands to nest overnight. Short-eared Owl sightings are generally a higher probability sighting outside of day-visitor landing hours too; during daylight after dawn and before dusk. Like harrier they like to hunt over open ground, predating voles, chicks, and smaller birds.
There is no transport on the island, apart from a tractor and wheel-barrows that help to move food and baggage between the island accommodation and the landing jetty. The “old farmhouse” accommodation is about 15mins walk from the jetty and is situated fairly central on the island, with footpaths in a “spoke and wheel” arrangement from the farmhouse. One can comfortably circumnavigate the whole island in around 90mins; it’s about a 4 mile perimeter.
The south and west of the island is home to most of the nesting Puffin, with the The Wick being one favourite spot for photography. Keep an ear open for ”local intel” on sightings of the Short-eared Owl. They are seen most days; then it’s simply case of finding a spot and then patiently “watch and shoot”.
In June, don’t expect too much from your first couple of hours framing and shooting puffin. If you have a “keeper”, fantastic, but it was pure luck ! Mid-May is marginally more sedate, when there are fewer predators around.
It takes a while to develop a feel for how the birds move and behave; on the ground and in the air. Once you have your “eye in” you will be able to anticipate their moves and your shot; resulting in more success at obtaining images for your porfolio.
Puffins feeding
The Wick was full of puffins busy coming back from sea with sand eels for the little pufflings. The challenge is capturing an interesting photo before they quickly disappear into their burrow. Gulls are the number one enemy for puffin; stealing their catch and predating their young. Hence they spend as little time as possible hanging around outside their burrows.
Whether you are looking for an island adventure, a wildlife haven, or a relaxing getaway off-grid: Skomer is an island that ticks all the boxes. There is a second island beyond Skomer called Skokholm, which offers a similar experience. It is a similar set-up in terms of accommodation but requires a longer stay and hence more logistics planning. It is on our to-do list in a couple of years.
Traveller Guidance:
Skomer Island is only a short hop from the Pembrokeshire mainland, however it is remote. The guest accommodation has no mains power and relies upon solar power and bottled gas for cooking and hot water. There are three 240v sockets but do not rely on these for anything.
You need to bring your own food for the duration of your stay; plus an extra day in case the ferry schedule is disrupted by the weather. There is sufficient chiller-space for fresh food. You also have to take away your rubbish: so keep the menu simple and minimise packaging. Use plain paper/cardboard packaging: it can contribute to the log burner fuel ! Also try to re-package food into lightweight washable containers that you can take home. Our first trip we only had a piece of used cling-film in our bin-bag; the second trip, nothing. Vegetable peelings and tea-bags go into the compost bin.
Think outside the box about your eating times; you don’t have to cook and dine with the herd ! The kitchen can be a zoo at predicatable times, so for our 3/4 nights we took meals we had already prepared (Usual suspects: Spag Bol, Chilli, etc) and only needed to re-heat and boil some rice, spaghetti, noodles, and fresh veg.
Day-walking boots are fine, wellington boots are also ok: there is not that much walking involved shooting on and around the island. A day-bag to keep your gear in while out and about is useful to have.
Security is 99% reliant upon trust and we have not had, or heard of, any issues (aside a guest with a camera club who ‘swore blind’ someone stole a spare D5 battery, only for it to mysteriously reappear while packing their kit on departure day). That said, the bunkhouse is open-house, and we did secure our camera bags together and around a bed frame to comply with our insurance policy.
You need to take your own bedding and towel. Accommodation is dry and comfortable : remember it’s a bunkhouse
Mobile phone coverage was a lottery, and guests have no access to the Trust’s Wi-Fi; for good reason and understandable. There are only 3 mains sockets. Hence carry spare fully charged batteries for all your gear, leave your laptop at home, minimise your on-screen photo “chimping”, and bring along some fully-charged battery power-packs (usb adapters and cables !), and you will have plenty capacity to power your kit during your stay.
Camera Kit:
Waterproof camera-gear covers are nice to have; you might just get caught at one end of the island and need to be able to protect your gear from exposure to the elements; rain and driving wind.
We found a telephoto zoom in a range around 100-500mm, f4 - f5.6, was ideal in terms of reach and weight. A 400mm prime is the most you’ll need. If big is better then bring your “big guns”, but remember you wil be carrying it from your car to your bunk !
Shorter telephoto around 24-70mm were really useful, better still mounted on a spare body; for those close encounters. Puffin will get up-close and personal because, try as you might, you will be close to nest burrows at times. Take your wide-angle fish-eye if you have one; opportunities will present themselves.
We took compatible 1.4TC, although did not use them. Filters were not essential, although we always carry our CPL.
A medium telephoto (filling the 70-200mm range) was useful for wider environmental shots.
Tripod/monopod with gimbal/mono-gimbal have limited use on this trip. That said, you will likely find a tripod useful for some landscape shots if you intend to spend time away waiting patiently for Short-Eared Owl.
Overcast ambient light can be challenging at times; you cannot be certain about what the Celtic Sea will bring your way. Know your camera’s capabilities and limitations (every camera has them), particularly with ISO noise and with low-contrast auto-focus. Wide-aperture lens really help when light is challenge, but when needs must adapt your shooting plan to the current conditions.
Skomer is not a place to run short of memory-card storage ..… enough said.