SKOKHOLM ISLAND - JULY 2007

Skokholm is a small island (just 100 hectares or 260 acres), off the south-west tip of Pembrokeshire.  I was lucky to stay there for a week in July 2007 as one of a group on a trip organised by Photographers on Safari.  With no day visitors to the island, the wildlife remains almost undisturbed, so it was an amazing opportunity to see the daily lives of the birds and other creatures, just as it has gone on for centuries.

Reaching the island is the first challenge.  The trip is by a small boat, which can only sail to the island when the sea is relatively calm.  Luggage, and food for the week, had to be unloaded from cars in the harbour and carried up steep steps to reach the height of the boat at high tide.  All is then loaded by human chain onto the boat, a task not made any easier by the inclusion in the party of 12 enthusiastic photographers, each with at least one camera and several assorted lenses in addition to their other luggage. 

The trip took half-an-hour and then I was able to see a puffin for the first time.  Everyone says they are smaller than you would imagine, but even so it does come as a surprise to realise that they are just about the same size as a collared dove.   

Having unloaded our luggage we were able to walk up the steep path that took us to our accommodation for the week, a group of small buildings originally restored by Ronald Lockley (author of many books about the island and its wildlife) when he went to live there in the 1920's.   Many of the materials for the restoration were scavenged from the wreck of the Alice Williams, which was providentially washed onto the rocks without loss of life.  The figurehead and wheel from the ship can be seen today in the Wheelhouse where meals are served.

There are no full-time residents on the island, but four Wildlife Trust wardens live there from Spring until Autumn each year, looking after visitors and keeping records of the wildlife.

The accommodation was basic but comfortable, and the food excellent.  Despite enjoying my home-comforts I adapted remarkably quickly to the island's modest facilities (water from a well or water-butts, gas-lights or torches, and a coal fire in the common room which was much appreciated after our nocturnal excursions).  Our contribution to domestic duties was to wash up after each meal - never before have I seen so many grown men anxious about the burnt-on state of their dishes!

Shortly after our arrival we were given a tour of the island, taking about two hours at a very relaxed pace, with Chris, one of the wardens, being careful to point out to us things of interest and, most importantly as the island is an SSSI, areas to be avoided.

Our first full day on the island began with perfect light for photography and much to my own surprise I was up at 5.30 am, and waiting for the sun to come over Spy Rock so that I could photograph the puffins' comical antics as they blundered back to their burrows with fish or sand-eels for their chicks.  The greatest challenge was to capture the puffins in flight because, despite their clumsy appearance, they fly at a remarkable speed, slowing down only for their final descent.  If they don't land directly in front of their burrow they are clearly anxious to make it to safety as quickly as they can to avoid the gulls who lay in wait to steal their catch.  The gulls also made a meal of several hapless puffin chicks who ventured out of their burrows to exercise their wings (they do this for two to three weeks before finally flying out to sea).  The chicks hardly resemble their parents, having black eye patches, grey faces and bills.

Following dinner each evening, food scraps were thrown to the ever-present gulls, prompting one of our party to lie on the grass, surrounded by the scraps to photograph the gulls (rather him than me!).  This resulted in many of us experimenting with shutter speeds to get abstract images as the gulls descended on us.

One of the most fascinating birds to breed on the island is the Manx Shearwater.  Like the puffin this bird makes its nest in a burrow, but is only seen on land after dark when it is safe from the gulls.  Breeding birds take it in turns to remain in the nest while their partner is finding food at sea.  The returning bird is guided back to the burrow by the calls of its partner, an eerie sounding cry that is very difficult to describe.  We ventured out on several nights on hearing their cries and were rewarded by the remarkable sight of hundreds of shearwaters in the air (their are an estimated 49,000 pairs on the island) and the thud of birds landing close by and occasionally colliding with us.  When they land they scramble hastily to their burrows, or lie quite still on the ground apparently getting their bearings.

It would be hard to imagine all these burrows without rabbits, and they too are plentiful on the island - including a black (melanistic) form, commonly seen. 

Another fascinating bird breeding on Skokholm is the Storm Petrel, a tiny creature about the size of a swallow, whose life is much like that of the shearwater, except that they next in crevices in scree and stone walls instead of burrows.  Their weird calls would begin after dark, then the birds would emerge to flit around in the air in the manner of bats or moths.  It was incredible to imagine that these tiny birds had spent their winter in the waters off South Africa.

It would be easy to overlook the many other small birds on the island such as pipits and warblers, but after a little patience in one of the many hides I was rewarded by several shots of a Sedge warbler, and caught many glimpses of moorhen chicks just hatched. 

On what was due to be our last full day on the island there was a storm of unusual intensity for July and we were told that the boat would be unable to collect us the following afternoon, due to the sea swell.  This day was not wasted by many of us who took the opportunity to begin sorting out our hundreds (if not thousands) of photographs.  The following morning dawned sunny and calm and we all took advantage of this bonus day to get some shots of anything we had so far neglected.

Despite the daily turmoil in the lives of the many creatures on the island, Skokholm is a peaceful place, little changed since the 1920's.  I trust it remains that way and hope to return in the not too distant future.

Visit the gallery of my photographs from Skokholm.

Jan Slack