Skomer Manx increasing ranks

SKOMER ISLAND has seen a sizeable jump in it’s numbers of Manx Shearwaters.

The island, off of Pembrokeshire’s coast, is home to around 50% of the entire worldwide population of Manx shearwaters.

The seabirds, which migrate between the Pembrokeshire coast and South America, number at about 350,000 breeding pairs and, during a census, it was found that the numbers had increase by an amazing 10%.

Scientists from the universities of Gloucester, Oxford and the National Trust inspected more than 3000 burrows on Skomer with their research also including checking burrows on the neighbouring Skokholm and Middleholm islands.
Their in-depth research led them to project a population of 349,663 pairs – a 10.6% increase on the 316,000 estimated during the last census carried out in 2011.

Joint island warden Nathan Wilkie said: “What makes them quite a distinctive bird is their call, which can be quite eerie – and with the numbers of shearwater and where we are, that can be quite loud.”

Warden Sylwia Zbijewska added: “What makes them so extraordinary is they are so clumsy on land but they spend most of their time out at sea and are excellent fliers.”

Going forward the plan is to keep predators off of the island where they live as their clumsiness can make them easy prey. Manx shearwaters’ biggest threat, aside from plastic pollution, are black-back gulls which prevent the birds from returning to their burrows until nightfall.

Elsewhere on Skomer, it’s most famous resident – the Puffin, has a population of about 24,000 birds which is a drop when compared with 2018, but given that the island’s population has trebled since 2003, it’s not believed to be a reason for concern.

Recent surveys of other island-dwellers including guillemots (nearly 25,000) and razorbills (7,500) showed a steady 4% rise.