The boat trip across to the island provided a brief view of a Grey Seal as it popped it's head up out of the water to watch us gliding past. As we neared Skomer we saw many Puffins fly past heading for the island. Many of them had beaks full of sand-eels. The island was riddled with burrows and there were Puffins all around us as well as thousands of Lesser Black-backed Gulls. The puffins were very tame and we watched a few popping in and out of their nesting burrows from about five yards away.

A Posing Puffin

There were remains of Puffins and/or Guillemots scattered all around. At one place near a stream I counted 14 corpses. No wonder the gulls were so abundant! We also saw breeding Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Guillemots and Razorbills on the cliffs as well as Manx Shearwaters soaring over the waves out at sea. A Great Black-backed Gull was perched majestically but menacingly on a large rock.

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