Off the Welsh coast, near St David, is Skomer Island, home to thousands of seabirds, gannets, seagulls, manx shearwater, razorbill, guillemot and my favourite the puffin.
The little boat that took us over to the island was supposed to hold fifty passengers, but seemed full with just the twenty of us, maybe the rest were meant to hang off the side of the boat. Following us across seagulls glided along, easily keeping pace with the boat, every now and then they would take turns in landing on the radar, sitting there like in a crows nest, thier own little fishing trip, laughing as only a seagull does, if only life were as simple.
On arriving at the island, a sheer climb that had me puffing like an old cart horse, a brief talk by the warden and off we went around the island to discover treasure, - no even better, a colony of puffins, hundreds of burrows, with little heads popping in and out, puffins arriving with mouths full of sardines. The pathway was roped off to stop you treading on any burrows, I knealt down two feet from one, a perfect picture, and on the return journey the same seagull again sat in the crows nest, while his mate glided along beside the boat.
David Neighbour
Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire