skomer, july 2004

July 2004 saw me on my way to the island of Skomer, off the Pembrokeshire coast.  This island is renowned for its low human and enormous bird population - with Puffins being particularly prominent.

Skomer is a small island off the Pembrokeshire coast.  It is uninhabited, except for a full-time Warden and assistant warden.  In early July 2004 I got the opportunity not only to visit the island, but to stay on it for 3 nights along with Pete Smart from Wild Arena, and fellow delegate Colin Fieldgate.

Skomer is home to an enormous wealth of wildlife, predominantly bird life.  The most prevalent inhabitants are gulls, Razorbills and the famous Puffins and Manx Sheerwaters.  The Puffins were my primary focus.

The trip from the mainland to Skomer is fairly painless one, taking somewhere in the order of 20-30 minutes by boat.  Day trippers are able to visit the island, but have to be on their way back to shore by about 5pm.  Staying on the island greatly increased the photographic opportunities due to the light being much kinder in the mornings and evenings.

The weather for July was particularly unusual, and included some very high winds (gale force 7 on the island).  This meant that for two days the boat did not run at all, meaning that we had the island practically to ourselves.  Unfortunately, however, the island's birds aren't too keen on flying backwards and decided to spend most of the windy period tucked up under their duvets deep in their burrows.  A few opportunities did present themselves, though...

With the likes of Heather Angel and similarly prevalent photographers cornering the market with sharp, in-focus, full frame puffin-shots I decided to concentrate most of my attention to taking out-of-focus shots of Puffin feet (just as they leave the frame).  This proved to be extremely successful and I came away with dozens of shots meeting the brief.  Yes, it may be a niche market, but I strongly believe it to be one that needs to be covered and that is where I squarely position myself.

Amongst my more marketable "Puffin feet" photographs I did come away with some other shots.  Included in these are a couple of shots of a young Peregrine which I accidentally got both in focus and in the frame - most frustrating!

Click here to see some of my Skomer Island efforts.