0:00:21 > 0:00:22I'm on my way
0:00:22 > 0:00:26to the amazing Skomer Island, off the southwest tip of Wales.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28But, you know, Britain a nation of islands.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31There are more than 6,000 scattered around our coast.
0:00:31 > 0:00:36Often they are great places to go to see amazing natural spectacles.
0:00:38 > 0:00:45Skomer is one-and-a-half miles long and one of a cluster of islands just off the coast of Pembrokeshire.
0:00:45 > 0:00:50It has unique mixture of wildlife which makes it a magnet for visitors.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54I've chosen one of the best times to visit - May.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00The entire island is a reserve run by the Welsh Wildlife Trust,
0:01:00 > 0:01:02and its warden is Ewan Brown.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05- Chris.- Ewan...- Welcome to Skomer.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09- Thank you. Picked the right day. - Absolutely! Lovely day.- Blue sky.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12- Absolutely glorious. A map of the island here.- OK.
0:01:12 > 0:01:17Most important thing, network of footpaths, clearly marked. Please stick to these at all times.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Obviously, the puffins, everyone's favourite.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24A good place to see them is the Wick - you can get within a few feet of them.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26So definitely visit the Wick.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30- OK. I'll spend the day exploring and we'll meet up tonight.- Yep.
0:01:30 > 0:01:35- Super option.- Have a good day and I'll see you later tonight, Chris. - See you.- Cheers.- Bye.
0:01:35 > 0:01:41Ewan and I are meeting later for a night-time ornithological extravaganza, but first the puffins.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45I've already glimpsed a group on the water.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47In less than half an hour I've reached the Wick,
0:01:47 > 0:01:49and puffin paradise.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57For many people, the highlight of a visit to Skomer would be the puffins.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Their upright, waddling gait, their brightly coloured bill
0:02:00 > 0:02:04make them many people's favourite bird. Just look at that.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06One of the best things is
0:02:06 > 0:02:09you can get really close to them here, without leaving the path.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Without having to break the rules.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17The puffins use the numerous rabbit burrows on the island for their nests.
0:02:17 > 0:02:22It's perfectly safe because there are no ground predators, like rats or foxes.
0:02:24 > 0:02:29I suppose the reason why the puffin is so tame here is they are never accosted by humans.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34In other parts of the world, the Faroes and Iceland, they actually catch them to eat them -
0:02:34 > 0:02:37tens of thousands - and apparently they are meant to be quite tasty.
0:02:40 > 0:02:46The fact you can get so close to them makes this a photographic opportunity par excellence.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48I've come equipped with this thumping great lens
0:02:48 > 0:02:53and it's virtually redundant, because, here, with the happy, snappy, everyday digital camera,
0:02:53 > 0:02:57you can get top puffin pin-ups.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04I look at these birds, with their legs right down the back of their body and their upright stance,
0:03:04 > 0:03:07and I think of penguins. In a sense their wings
0:03:07 > 0:03:11are being very much reduced into these flipper-like paddles.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16And whilst they struggle to fly very well in the air, they fly brilliantly underwater.
0:03:16 > 0:03:21And my thought is, puffins might be in the process of becoming flightless.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25Like their distant cousins, penguins, at the other end of the planet.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30These two puffins are doing a bit of billing behaviour.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32It's a sort of a greeting.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36A bit like us giving each other a peck on the cheek when we get home.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54Now, if you visit Skomer in May, you're going to be in for a very pleasant surprise indeed
0:03:54 > 0:03:58because you'll get to enjoy this fabulous carpet of bluebells.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02Just look at it. The ground is, quite literally, blue.
0:04:06 > 0:04:11Now, we do tend to think of bluebells as very much a woodland plant here in the UK.
0:04:11 > 0:04:16In fact, on the continent they are a cliff-top species.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18Here, they do rely on a woodland surrogate.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21The bracken grows up after they've finished flowering,
0:04:21 > 0:04:25and forms a dense canopy, which shades out any of their competitors,
0:04:25 > 0:04:29but allows their leaves to gather the energy they need to produce the bulbs.
0:04:29 > 0:04:34So the next year, you get another show just like this.
0:04:47 > 0:04:54If you come out here as a day-tripper, I'm sure the puffins will be top of your pops.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58But if you book in advance you can stay in a few chalets out here
0:04:58 > 0:05:04and, after dark, you can witness one of Britain's greatest ornithological spectacles.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11BIRDS CALL
0:05:11 > 0:05:19Now then, when I say spectacle, what I really mean in the literal sense is the audio equivalent.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21Because just listen to that.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26- Just listen. - BIRDS CALL
0:05:26 > 0:05:28That is amazing.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32That is the sound of tens of thousands of Manx shearwaters
0:05:32 > 0:05:36coming back to their nesting bars, here on Skomer.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39And it's one of the largest breeding colonies anywhere in Europe.
0:05:39 > 0:05:44They are all up there in the sky - you can hear them clattering across there.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48But they are quite difficult to spot. I've got this hand torch and this little thing.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50Ah, very fetching.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55The shearwaters come in at night, particularly when there's little or no moon,
0:05:55 > 0:05:59to avoid being spotted and eaten by the larger gulls.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02They spend most of their life far out at sea.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04So on land they're rather clumsy.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07Like the puffins, they use old rabbit burrows for their nests.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09Hiya.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11You've got one there.
0:06:11 > 0:06:16The warden, Ewan, is licensed to handle these birds because he's monitoring the population.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20Be careful of the claws because they are actually quite sharp.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23- They're designed for digging burrows.- And webbed.- Absolutely.
0:06:23 > 0:06:24What about the face?
0:06:24 > 0:06:28They've got this beautiful black, velvety plumage.
0:06:28 > 0:06:33And, obviously, if you notice the bill, it's quite moist around the tube there.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35It's probably secreting salt
0:06:35 > 0:06:38- because they drink sea water. - Incredible.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41- Let's let this one go.- We'd better let it go.- We've had it a while.
0:06:42 > 0:06:47The cacophony sounds chaotic but, in fact,
0:06:47 > 0:06:51each bird can recognise the sound of its mate calling from the nest.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Extraordinary sound.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02Absolutely, and it's amazing to think that every one is probably individual, as well.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06- To our ears, we can actually hear the difference between male and female.- Can you?
0:07:06 > 0:07:08Go on, I don't know that.
0:07:08 > 0:07:13The males sound like Mr Punch, there's high frequencies in there.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16The females are a lot more, sort of, gruff.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21BIRDS CALL
0:07:18 > 0:07:21- That's a male.- That's a male. - Yeah. With the high frequency.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25But even the few birds we've just heard sound different, don't they?
0:07:25 > 0:07:30So you can imagine the shearwater that's tuned into that sound, they certainly know who each other is.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32GRUFF BIRD CALL
0:07:32 > 0:07:36- That's distinctly different. - Absolutely, that's the female.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40It doesn't have that squeal, that pealing at the end, does it?
0:07:40 > 0:07:42No. That's right. It's a lot lower, isn't it?
0:07:42 > 0:07:47There is a folklore, as well, that shipwrecked sailors were terrorised so much by the sounds
0:07:47 > 0:07:53that they thought were the sounds of haunted souls, that they threw themselves off the cliff.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd - 2006
0:08:03 > 0:08:07E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk