We came, we saw, we Skomer-ed!

As they say in the cartoons "that's all, folks!". Another Skomer week done and dusted. I know my photos make it seem like I just go and sit on a rock for a week watching wildlife, but it's a hard week of long days and physical work. A brief rundown of what I've done this week includes carting three lots of luggage up and down 87 steep steps up onto the island; standing around in the hot sun for three hours at a time, and going back up and down those steps, when welcoming boats and sending them home again; walking between 5 and 8 miles per day around the island; cutting back invasive plants in the middle of shoulder-high bracken and cutting back paths; cleaning the poo chute in the compost loos and cleaning the visitor hostel (shower rooms, kitchen and lounge as a minimum every day). All of this in mostly baking hot sun on an island with no shade whatsoever. We have to be ready to start work at 8:30am and we finish around 4:30pm

I make it sound like torture, I know, and now you're probably wondering why the hell I'm so keen to go! The reasons are many, such as spending a week in great company with equally hard-working friends - I'm not sure where else I'd have such a laugh cleaning a compost loo - but most of all it's worth it to have free rein on the island when the day visitors have gone. To be able to get so close to, and observe, wildlife in a way that most people will never experience. It's not just the puffins, although they're so full of character it's impossible not to be captivated by them, but there's so much else. Manx Shearwaters, if you can bring yourself to go out at 2am, owls, peregrine falcons and a myriad other birds, butterflies, moths, seals and, if you're lucky, porpoise and dolphins.

It's also a great opportunity to speak to and learn from people who are experts in their field and to help with different activities, depending on when you visit the island. Nature and conservation in this country relies heavily on volunteers and places like Skomer certainly wouldn't be able to offer the experiences they do without our help. However, not all volunteers are created equal, and I've just spent a week with some of the best. You absolutely can't spend a week sharing a room, a kitchen, bathroom and your main jobs with people you don't get along with.

So, to my fellow volunteers, thank you. We were a bloody brilliant team this week, and I hope you've all got a very well-deserved gin/wine/cider (delete as appropriate) to celebrate a very successful week.