Now, as any ful know, only mad people travel at Bank Holidays. So of course we decided to go all the way to Pembrokeshire. Leaving London on Friday at 5.30 am, Erica, the intrepid driver, got us to the Skomer ferry in plenty of time for the 11am boat. We had to go on Friday, it was the only day where the weather looked as if the boat might run. It was a bit early in the year for the more iconic nesting species - PUFFINS for example, but we did see one on the way out, along with one of only two Gannets. There were plenty of Kittiwakes and Fulmars on the cliffs and a good haul of Grey Seals on the beach. Gulls were everywhere, mostly Herring and LBBGs. A single Guillemot was rafting with some gulls (although we saw others later in the holiday).
The island was alive with Meadow Pipits and a goodly number of Wheatears, with the odd Stonechat and Wren. Plenty of BOPs, a pair of Buzzards, ditto Peregrines, a Kestrel and a Merlin. Likewise for corvids, Choughs, Jackdaws, Carrion Crows and a couple of Ravens.
Skomer ferry (NOT Boaty McBoatface)
Buzzard and totally unconcerned rabbit.
Chough
LBBG
Mipits
Peregrine (very, very, heavily cropped)
Strange Raven pic
Wheatear
Wren
Seals
Saturday was slightly different, we went for a hike around Stackpole and Bosherton. Horizontal hail does hurt and waterproof clothing and rucksack covers aren't proof against 60mph rain, who knew? Oddly we neither saw nor photographed many birds.
Sunday was spent hiking to Tenby plus photographing a few common birds in the hotel garden.
Dunnock
Greenfinch
Obligatory Robin
Coal Tit
Poor quality Rock Pipit photo
Is it a bird, is it a plane? No.
On Monday we headed home in the wake of Storm Katie with only the odd Red Kite and Buzzard to enliven the trip (oh, and the prospect of a very nice whisky, mustn't forget that ;-)
"Let loose the Kraken!"
Lovely report, Stuart--thanks! Skomer is a great place to visit as well as Pembrokeshire in general. Love the Wheatear especially. And what a collection of Seals! We saw 20 Red Kites in about 15 minutes on Sunday when driving along the M40 from Birmingham on our way home to Surrey.
Kind regards, Ann
Great report of your weekend Stuart. Like Ann I love the very smart Wheatear. The Pembrokeshire coast is very beautiful.
Kind regards
Jenny
Thanks Ann. That stretch of the M40 is pretty amazing (as long as the driver doesn't pay TOO much attention to the birds ;-)
What a great trip Stuart, lovely to read, love all the bird life you saw and what a great number of seals on the foreshore. Good job you battled Storm Katie to get some great shots on the Friday.
Lot to learn
Great report Stuart and some great photos - I've never been to Skomer, but it's on my list of places to go one day! The only thing that puts me off is that you can't pre-book tickets for the boat (I don't think) and with a four and a half hour drive for us to get there, I wouldn't like to think I wouldn't get onto the island if the queues were too long. I've never seen Choughs before - great to see your photo. The Wheatears are lovely and the photo of the rainbow over the sea is fabulous. Hope the whisky did the trick after battling the wind and rain.
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The trick with Skomer is apparently to get there before Whitsun weekend. They also lay on more boats at busy periods. I'd be tempted to try for a sunny Monday outside public holidays - and aim for the 10am boat. It does mean getting up horribly early mind you. ;-)
Thanks for the advice - will have to try and get there some time soon.
Great report of your trip, Stuart. Very intrepid of you risk the Bank Holiday traffic and the fearsome weather forecast. I love Pembrokeshire and did quite a lot of walking the coastal paths when I was younger. Never made it across to Skomer unfortunately.
Nice to see the Chough. The last one I saw in the UK was at Martin's Haven. Fantastic photo of the rainbow. Nicely done with man in the foreground.
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
Thanks Tony :-) The traffic on the way there was minimal, the advantage of getting up stupidly early!