Part 11: Seashores (continued)

One of the easier accessible seabird colonies in Britain is Skomer Island, a volcanic outcrop just off the cost of Wales. In addition to more common seabirds, it has the world's largest colony of Manx shearwaters - a quarter million pairs. They nest in burrows, and don't show up on the island until dusk.

Rocky shores of Skomer Island.

Little fjord, Skomer Island.

British storm- petrels also come at night to their nests, hidden in burrows on steep slopes.

A cove between two ancient lava flows, Skomer Island.

Lesser black-backed gulls (Larus fuscus) and a Eurasian oystercatcher (Haematopus haematopus), Skomer Island.

Greater black-backed gull (L. marinus), Skomer I.

Manx shearwaters on Skomer now suffer heavy predation by the three species of large gulls breeding on the island. Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus), Skomer Island. The gull numbers are increasing, because they have unlimited food supply in winter - garbage dumps of British and Irish cities.

Herring gull (L. argentatus) and puffins, Skomer I.

European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), Skomer Island.

Baby rabbit, Skomer I.

Gulls are not the only problem faced by seabirds on small islands. Rabbits, rats, hedgehogs, foxes and feral cats have been introduced to many of them, and some bird colonies have disappeared. On Skomer, rabbits are the only introduced mammals, but they still have a lot of impact. They speed up soil erosion by destroying vegetation and digging burrows. Changed vegetation no longer provides protection from predators to shearwaters and the island' s endemic voles.

European rabbit, Skomer I.

Eurasian oystercatchers, Skomer Island.

Skomer Island.

Snow goose (Anser caerulescens), a North American vagrant, Skomer I.

Visiting smaller islands is always an adventure. No two are alike, and you never know what you might see. Unfortunately, ferries to and between them are usually insanely expensive. I hope some day I'll have time and money to explore all those wonderful island groups: the Channel Islands, the Isles of Scilli, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Orkneys, the Shetlands, and the most remote and interesting of them all - the Saint Kilda.

Common murres (Uria aagle) mating, off Skomer Island, Wales.

View of the North Sea from Anstruther, Scotland. Isle of May and Bass Rock in the background.

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