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Reporting fromSkomer Island
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A record number of puffins have been recorded on a small island off the Pembrokeshire coast, despite global populations declining rapidly.
According to the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales (WTSWW), 43,626 puffins were counted on Skomer Island this year – a record high.
The WTSWW said the increased number of puffins on the nature reserve was a “conservation success story”, but warned that the birds were still a species under threat which should continue to be protected.
Skomer Island, a 1.13 sq mile (2.92 sq km) internationally important seabird island managed by the WTSWW, is located less than a mile from the Pembrokeshire coast.
The island’s isolation means that it is protected from predators such as rats, cats, dogs and foxes, and also from the human impact on the mainland.
As well as a growing population of puffins, Skomer is also home to 350,000 breeding pairs of manx shearwaters and thousands of guillemots and razorbills.
Every year, the WTSWW undertakes its annual seabird count on the island to monitor the population of birds that return every spring to breed.
The puffins are counted during the evening and early in the season by six members of staff.
Skomer Island’s visitor officer, Rob Knott, said counting the birds was “quite a job”.
“We split the island into sections and we go round about two hours before sunset when there’s the most on the land,” he said.
“We get our clickers out and we count
