Friday 19 May 2023

Meet The 2023 Skomer Island Team

The arrival of May has seen our seabirds starting to lay and our researchers are hard at work monitoring their productivity. But the changing season has also brought a flurry of new staff to the island.

And so, introducing Skomer Island’s WTSWW 2023 staff…

The Skomer Island team standing in front of a book case. Left to right, we have Hannah, Lotti, Erin, Leighton, Rob and Ceris.
The 2023 Team, L-R: Hannah (Fieldworker), Lotti (LTV), Erin (LTV), Leighton (Warden), Rob (Visitor Officer), Ceris (Assistant Warden) © Skomer VO

Leighton driving the boat off Skomer.
Leighton out on the boat © Skomer Warden

Leighton – Warden (he/him)

Leighton is back for his third year as Warden and sixth year in total. As a previous Visitor Officer on Skomer, he knows the island inside out! He oversees all research, monitoring and visitor operations on the island.



Ceris driving the dumper truck down to the beach.
Ceris driving the dumper truck © Skomer Warden


Ceris – Assistant Warden (she/her)

Ceris has returned to the island for her fourth season on Skomer as our Assistant Warden. She is a strong advocate for increasing diversity and inclusion on the island and is in charge of the weekly volunteer work plans, along with a range of monitoring and surveys, maintenance work and welcome talks to guests. She is learning Welsh and enjoys practising this on morning boats!



Rob out on a breeding bird survey © Skomer AW

Rob – Visitor Officer (he/him)

The team are excited to welcome Rob as Visitor Officer for his first season. Taking over from Beth, he has big shoes to fill – but thankfully has big feet. Rob runs our hostel, is responsible for day visitors, runs the social media and carries out a range of monitoring work. As a previous long-term volunteer, he is excited to be back to show off our birds, bats, plants and everything in between in all their glory! When not working, he is learning Welsh, enjoys playing his instruments and gives Leighton a run for his money in island cricket matches...


A cliff on Skomer with Hannah just visible using a scope on the right hand side to survey.
Can you spot Hannah surveying? © Lotti B-H

Hannah – Fieldworker (she/her)

Hannah has joined us as Fieldworker this year. An experienced seabird researcher, Hannah has worked on the Isle of May, Malta and the Azores. She monitors Razorbills, Guillemots, Kittiwakes, Fulmars, Herring Gulls and Greater Black-backed Gulls for breeding success. When she’s not looking through her scope, she’s a big fan of sea swimming and can be found birding all over the island.



Lotti (she/her) and Erin (she/her) – Long-Term Volunteers

Last and not least, we have our amazing Long-Term Volunteers, Lotti and Erin! They are with us until mid-July and are getting stuck in with everything going on – to read about them, here’s their introductions: Introducing Lotti and Erin.

Lotti and Erin holding Easter eggs in the garden
Lotti and Erin, our LTVs from March to July © Skomer VO 

So there we have it, our team for 2023! If you’re over this summer, please feel free to stop us and say hello.

Hope to see you soon.

The Skomer Island Team

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