Fantastic weather and special birds.

Announcement first: Skokholm now has its own blog at http://skokholm.blogspot.com/
The often-overlooked, smaller island, also managed by The Wildlife Trust, is currently closed to overnight guests and only has a handful of day trips out there each year. But lots of people have been asking about the place, in particular many Skomer regulars who have yet to get out there. So the new blog is for everyone to keep track of what's going on across the water.

Skokholm: like Skomer but smaller and quieter.

Although Skomer often seems to have an independent weather system from the rest of the country it appears we have been equally fortunate regarding the sun over the weekend. This was preceeded by a few days of mist and heavy sea fog rolling in and out, during which time our researchers had trouble seeing birds on the cliffs, let alone reading their ring numbers.

The office in North Haven appearing and disappearing as the fog rolls in and out.

But then on Friday it all cleared away and we were left with flat calm seas and brilliant sunshine. Just in time my wetsuit arrived so I've been off swimming with puffins. The sea's cold but not too bad and so clear it's just too tempting.

The island's been really busy, with full boatloads and tickets selling out so the message is; if you want to visit Skomer be at Martin's Haven early.

There's still birds moving through and the last few days have seen a Hobby fly straight over North Haven, up to five Red Kites getting a tough time off the gulls and, the real highlight, a Bluethroat.

Bluethroat photo: Ben Dean

This spectacular little bird, blown off course en route to Scandinavia, showed brilliantly for about an hour before disappearing almost right under our noses.

Here's to more sun and birds.

Jerry Gillham.