What it's like to swim with puffins – while disguised as one
It's 7.45am in west Pembrokeshire and an impromptu convoy is snaking down a back road to nowhere. Delivery drivers scowl in passing places as cars stream past. We're en route – that's me and eight other cars – to Martin's Haven.
More precisely, we're en route to Skomer Island nature reserve to experience the largest puffin colony in southern Britain.
In late-May The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales counted 43,626 puffins on Skomer, a new record.
How could it be so precise? 'The island is broken into seven sections and we systematically count every bird: on land, rafting on the sea and estimate the number in the air,' explains Skomer warden Leighton Newman.
'It is,' he adds with masterful understatement, 'no small undertaking'.
From early April, when they arrive to breed, until their departure in late July, puffins are the big draw for the 250 birders who visit Skomer daily. I'm sure they have a blast striding along cliffs. There is an alternative, however.
The big draw for the 250 birders who visit Skomer daily. I'm sure they have a blast striding along cliffs. There is an alternative, however.
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