18th: Skomer Island – South and West Wales

There is little doubt that, so far, I’ve overused the word “unique”. However, Skomer can only be described using that word.

We visited it twice from 2 different angles. We went on an evening boat trip around the island and then had 4 – 5 hours on the island itself the following day. They were both superb, but if you had to only do one (and could get booked on, they sell out very quickly) I’d choose the day trip to land on the island. Having said that though, we absolutely lucked out with the weather and were bathed in sunshine virtually the whole time we were there. There is virtually no cover on the island at all, so if I woke up on the morning of the trip and saw that it was due to chuck it down with rain the whole day, I can’t say I’d be looking forward to the trip. I love nature and seek out incredible encounters with wildlife whenever I can, but I would take my hat off to anyone who would really enjoy 4.5 hours in the rain watching wildlife, as they would be a better person than me.

We got a pretty good idea of the sheer volume of life there is on Skomer very soon after leaving port on the evening boat trip. Very quickly there were puffins, razorbills, guillemots and gulls shooting past all around us. It was really great seeing the cliff colonies from the sea; it gave a fantastic perspective.

Seeing the birds flying in from and out to sea, seeing them also resting in rafts on the top of the sea and also nesting up on the cliffs was a real privilege.

However, as we moved further out to see the Manx shearwaters, it was the sea itself that left the biggest impression. The way it moved and had such different characters, depending on where you were and what the tides were doing was very striking, plus that sense of sheer power, even on a very calm day like the one we had. The shearwaters were spectacular in the way they flew and I think that it will be this that I try to capture in a piece of art. Although, the birds bobbing on the surface of the sea were also very inspiring, as were the views of the cliffs, so who knows!

The day trip the following day, really defies description, but I’ll give it a go, I kind of have to really, this is a blog that uses words! Having close encounters with any wildlife is truly moving and it’s hard to imagine you could get much closer to any wildlife. The puffins were within feet, and sometimes inches of you, as they went about their lives. They travelled to and from burrows catching sand eels and returning as many as they could fit in their beaks to feed chicks, if they had hatched yet.

Just the volume of birds in the main colonies was pretty awe inspiring. I know there are bigger colonies in the world, much bigger, but even so, I was very impressed. We also saw a peregrine nest, complete with recently hatched chick, mum and dad. I’ve always loved birds of prey, so I think they will have to feature somewhere. Again, I have more ideas for artworks than I can deal with. In fact, I could fill an exhibition just from Skomer… probably twice over.