Wandering Birder| Europe 2003 | Wales Page 1 Chapter 2 Page 1/2 Wales Page 2 Skommer Island - Visit Manx Shearwater Puffins At The Wick Skommer Island view from the Wick Skommer Island - Visit The easy on boat trip to the island takes 15 minutes. Drive from Marloe Sands hostel to the parking lot at the top of the cliff where you leave your car. Walk down the hill to the dock. If you are spending the night on the island you may drive down to unload and then go back up to park. The boat is very crowded and the short trip does not lend itself to birding. After arriving at the island you will climb up the stairs for a talk by the ranger and then can spend about 4 hours on the island on your own. If you really want to experience the Manx Shearwaters at night, you need to make advanced reservation to spend the night. The sleeping facilities are rather primitive and you must bring your own sleeping bag and food. There are flush toilets and shower in a separate building. I am told that the reservations are filled by January. Contacts: Dr. Mere Snow The Welsh Wildlife Centre CZLgerron Cardigan SA6T3 2 TB Wales Phone 01239621212 wildlife@wtww.co.uk When you arrive on the island you climb the stairs up the cliff to the starting point where a ranger gives a short talk on the island. You can then wander on your own until about 3 PM when you have to be back at the dock for the return trip to the mainland. Manx Shearwaters About 100,000 pairs Manx Shearwater nest on the island in a vast honeycomb of burrows. Only the damper areas do not host shearwater burrows. Along with the 45,000 pairs of Manx Shearwaters on Stockhom Island they represent about 50% of the world's breeding population. The Shearwaters and the small population of British Storm-petrels (100 pairs) that nest in the coastal boulders are not seen until well after dark. I was very disappointed not to be able to spend the night on Skommer and plan to return some summer in order to see the Shearwaters at night on land. The best nights are dark with no moon or with heavy cloud cover. My first destination was the farm house where there are overnight accommodations and a small museum with a TV camera in a Manx Shearwater burrow. You can hear the taped cry of the shearwaters and see a bird with a baby in the burrow. on the TV monitor. Behind the farmhouse is an area with many Manx Shearwater burrows. There are no birds in sight and I heard nothing in the way of calls. These were active shearwater burrows because they had that unmistakable smell familiar to anyone who has visited a penguin colony. There are many dead shearwaters to be seen and photographed. According to the rangers most shearwaters are taken by Black-backed Gulls outside the burrows. Remains of two Manx Shearwaters caught outside the burrow by Great Black-backed Gulls.  Fresh water ponds on Skommer attract gulls who cannot drink salt water. The most numerous gull species on the island is the Lesser Black-backed Gull. While most of these gulls seem to be Herring Gulls there were plenty of Black-backed Gulls on the island. According to the rangers it is the Black-backed Gull which accounts for most of the predation on the Manx Shearwater. The gulls are also credited with controlling the rabbit population on the island. I saw several rabbits while walking the trails. Puffins At The Wick Most day trippers head immediately for the cliff known as the Wick. where there are enough Puffins to keep any non-birding spouse happy. Bird survey from Skommer show: Puffins (6,000 pairs), 13,900 Guillemots (Common Murres), 3,000 Razorbills, 2,000 pairs of Kittiwakes and 700 pairs of Northern Fulmars. On the path along the top of the Wick, Puffins and people can get very close. All photographs taken by the author with a Cannon PowerShot G3 Digital Camera. Resting Puffins at edge of the Wick. Many of these birds may be non-breeding adults. Notice the burrows to the left of the birds. Puffins may use old rabbit burrows or dig their own. One reason for not controlling the gull population is that the gulls also help control the rabbits. The Puffin on the left is obviously a working bird. He or she has just returned with a full mouth of sand eels. It is most important to stay clear of birds with food in their bills so as not to impede their progress into the burrow. The bird on the right is most probably not the mate of the one on the left. At this time of the year both mates should be out fishing for the young still in the burrow. Great Black-backed Gulls also prey on Puffins. A proud Atlantic Puffin peeks at the photographer from inside the burrow. Skommer Island presents one of the best opportunities for photography of Atlantic Puffins I have experienced anywhere. These Razorbills were close to the landing dock. Other birds you can see on Skommer are: Peregrin Falcon, Short-eared Owl, Pheasants, Blackbirds, Dunnocks, Winter Wren, Wood Pigeons, Magpies, Carrion Crows, Pied Wagtails, Sedge Warblers, Whitethroats, Moorhens, Mallards . Next Chapter - Scotland -Orkney and Shetland Islands Wandering Birder| Europe 2003 Next Chapter