Come on in, the water's lovely

Mondays on Skomer can go either way as there are no visitor boats. This usually means a day of hard labour for us volunteers, but it also gives us a bit more free time to go and visit our favourite spot or look for a particular resident. I like Mondays as we all know what a people person I am...

Today was great as it happens. We had a few hours of path clearing in store but a lot of them have been done in recent weeks so they're not as bad as they've been in the past. Before that though we watched as a moth trap from last night was checked. Many people don't realise but there are far more species of moths in Britain than butterflies, and often they're a lot more interesting. Check out my facebook page for the photos.

After our shift finished (about 2:45) we all went out separate ways around the island and I met up with three of the other volunteers to go for a swim. Despite it being a nice day the water was a bit chilly. Hazarding a guess at the temperature I'd go with "Baltic". It took my breath away when I got in but once the numbness from the neck down wore off it was actually quite pleasant. There were a few jellyfish bobbing around just before we got in but they'd bobbed off by the time  I eventually got in (it took a while). It was quite nice being in the water with the puffins and razorbills.

On my way back to the farm I saw a short-eared owl flying around. They're not commom in Wales and with about 5 breeding pairs Skomer has about a quarter of the Welsh population.

Sadly there was a casualty at the Wick (one of the puffin colonies) today as the first puffling to show itself outside a nest this year was promply eaten by a great black-backed gull. It's not all sunshine and roses on Skomer.

Back to having visitors tomorrow and I think the weather's about to turn too, but hopefully it won't be too bad.