Go West!

We've taken ourselves off west for a few days in Pembrokeshire, staying in a 'No dogs allowed' campsite in Dale and doing the sort of boat trips and wildlife trips that only allow two legs per passenger.  We spent today on Skomer Island, our first visit for many years, a bit later in the season than last time.



As soon as we arrived we were warned that the puffins had almost all fledged and set off back to sea.  They are by far the biggest attraction here.  In peak puffin season the cost of overnight island stays doubles and people queue for boat tickets from 6am.

By the end of July it's all much quieter, but it was a lovely warm day (not too sunny to be comfortable) and we saw everything we could reasonably have hoped for.  As we approached the island we saw big groups of puffins sitting on the water, gathering to head out to sea.  Once we landed, we saw more waiting on the cliff edges.  Just around the coast we saw kitiwakes and  fulmars with huge fluffy chicks.  There's just one chick per pair of fulmar each season, so like the 'Little Emperors' produced by China's one child policy they're always tubby and over indulged.  To be fair, in the autumn they have to fly to Argentina, so maybe they deserve to be spoilt for a while. 

Behind us a Herring Gull was trying to scare off a Greater Black Backed Gull while her chick looked on bewildered, sucking his thumb.

As we watched that drama, a parent bird of one of the last unfledged puffin chicks came in with a cargo of sand eels.  It watched us for a moment, then scuttled across the path and into its burrow. 

A little later, a second one came in, and dashed to a burrow right on the edge of the path.  I always wondered how something that lives in a burrow can always look so immaculate, but of course it's because when they emerge they always head straight to sea for a wash.





Around the next headland the Grey Seals were relaxing and waiting for the tide.



 The system for getting out to Skomer has recently been updated.  You can park in the National Trust Carpark (£4 for a car, £6 for a motorhome) and buy a Skomer landing ticket at the reserve office (£8 per adult).  The landing ticket books you a place on the boat, but you need to pay the boatman's £10 fee on board.  The crossing only takes about ten minutes.  The most strenuous part of the visit is the climb up a flight of steep steps from the jetty.