Puffins from the sea...and piratical Lesser Black Backs...

 Firstly, Bravo to the Llangwm Swanners! I love it when we get a really positive result from someone going the extra mile!Brilliant result!

So on Sunday prior to taking out paying passengers we needed to give the Cartlett Lady a shake down run to make sure everything is working properly. Having had a good clean of her hull and a lick of paint.she cut therough the water and her engines pushed her along without missing a beat!

We had a look at Skokholm and then around to Skomer where we anchored in South Bay for a cup of tea and to feast our eyes on the Puffins Razorbills and Guillemots rafting around us.from the cliffs we could hear the Kittiwakes as well as the Auks, a wonderful cacophony of vibrant early summer bird life!

On the slopes,  Gulls stood sentinel outside some of the Puffin Burrows waiting to mug returning puffins and steal their sand-eels. Other gulls were not so patient and were chasing the puffins in flight and mugging them in the air Skua like. Every instance of this piratical behaviour i witnessed involved Lesser Black Back Gulls,perhaps they are the most agile?

I guess in the scheme of things such predation is not going to have any real effect on the colonies as a whole. Its looking good weather-wise  for our Sunday trip when with a bit of luck we will get re-acquainted with the Gannets on Grassholm, I cant wait!