PUFFIN SUMMER

Every year, tens of thousands of puffins return to the Welsh isle of Skomer to mate, nest and raise their young

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The hole story

An Atlantic puffin on Skomer peers out from the clifftop burrow it's occupied since early spring and where it lays a single egg in late April. This island off the south-west Pembrokeshire coast, managed by the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, is a breeding stronghold for the species: nearly 39,000 puffins were recorded here this year.

Nesting instinct

A puffin gathers grass and roots to line its burrow. Its large, vividly coloured bill - prominent in summer, a duller hue in winter - contrasts with the smart black and white of its plumage, said to resemble monastic robes. This look informs the species' scientific name, Fratercula arctica, 'little brother of the north' - a nod to its range in the north Atlantic.

Seabird city

Skomer, here blushing with red campion and bluebells in late May, bustles with seabirds in spring and summer. As well as puffins, perhaps half of the UK's population of Manx shearwater breed on Skomer and neighbouring Skokholm, joined by storm petrels, guillemots, razorbills, fulmars and numerous other species.

Sky pirate

Any puffin returning with food - typically sandeels for its chick risks being mugged by larger birds such as great skuas and, as here, lesser black-backed gulls. These kleptoparasites don't just grab prey from flying puffins or force them to drop their fishy cargo; they also occasionally snatch unwary pufflings from burrow entrances.