Puffins Galore!
In May, I had the opportunity to visit Skomer Island, a haven for seabirds and a paradise for wildlife photographers. Armed with my OM Systems OM-1 and 300mm f/4 lens, I set out to capture the cute puffins and other wildlife in their natural habitat. Here's a description of my experience, alongside tips and lessons learned for other photographers who plan to make the trip.
Skomer Island
Skomer is a seabird island of international importance. Visiting Skomer was truly a highlight of my year. I was fortunate to have glorious weather, with blue skies and bright sunshine — a classic "Sunny 16 day," as photographers call it. While this kind of light usually poses a challenge because of its harshness and deep shadows, it was ideal for capturing the island's active birdlife, where bright light is a photographer's friend.
When our boat arrived at Skomer we were immediately surrounded by flying puffins. It’s odd to say, but it felt quite emotional. Maybe it was the relief that it wouldn’t be a wasted journey — I was going to see puffins after all! Maybe it was because they are such beautiful creatures. It was wonderful to see them in an environment where they could really thrive.
The puffins are beautiful birds so of course I spent time making portraits of them. This one posed in the perfect spot for me to get a colourful background.
OM Systems OM-1 with 300mm f/4 lens and MC-14 teleconverter. 1/2000s, f/5.6, ISO 400.
A puffin with sand eels is the iconic shot but I was a few weeks too early. The pufflings (such a great name for baby puffins) hadn't yet hatched. This meant there were very few puffins with fish in their beaks.
OM Systems OM-1 with 300mm f/4 lens and MC-14 teleconverter. 1/2000s, f/5.6, ISO 400.
I had read that you can get close to the puffins but I hadn't appreciated that the puffins are literally at your feet. The path through the Wick (where most of the puffins nest) bisects some of the burrows and on one side of it there’s not enough runway for the puffin to take off. So the puffins wait patiently for a gap in the stream of visitors before waddling to the other side of the path and taking flight.
OM Systems OM-1 with 300mm f/4 lens and MC-14 teleconverter. 1/2000s, f/5.6, ISO 400.
Cute overload.
OM Systems OM-1 with 300mm f/4 lens and MC-14 teleconverter. 1/2000s, f/4, ISO 640.
Puffins seem to find humans as interesting as we find them.
OM Systems OM-1 with 300mm f/4 lens and MC-14 teleconverter. 1/1600, f/4, ISO 200.
I aimed for a mix of puffin portraits, photographs of the birds in flight and some close up, abstract shots like this.
OM Systems OM-1 with 300mm f/4 lens. 1/1600s, f/4, ISO 200.
Puffins engage in a cute courtship ritual called 'billing' where they rub their beaks together. They also do this when returning to the nest — "Hey honey, I’m home!"
OM Systems OM-1 with 300mm f/4 lens. 1/1600s, f/4, ISO 200.
For every shot like this I have another 50 that didn’t make the cut. Puffins move fast when coming in to land so it’s tricky to make sure you get all of the bird in the frame. I’d take a series of shots only to find I had cut off a wing or a foot or the bird’s head.
OM Systems OM-1 with 300mm f/4 lens. 1/2000s, f/4, ISO 250.
The puffins fly in dizzying circles around the Wick and at any moment there are dozens coming into land. The autofocus on my OM Systems OM-1 camera, especially when paired with the 300mm f/4 lens, is astonishing. It was invariably super quick and accurate.
OM Systems OM-1 with 300mm f/4 lens. 1/2000s, f/4, ISO 1000.
Although the puffins are the star of the show, Skomer has many other birds. This Wheatear stayed still long enough for me to get a photograph.
OM Systems OM-1 with 300mm f/4 lens and MC-14 teleconverter. 1/1600s, f/5.6, ISO 400.
I spotted this Lesser black-backed gull perched on a rock amongst the bluebells.
OM Systems OM-1 with 300mm f/4 lens. 1/2000s, f/4.5, ISO 200.
Oystercatchers are wading birds but on this day on Skomer it decided to take a break inland.
OM Systems OM-1 with 300mm f/4 lens and MC-14 teleconverter. 1/2000s, f/5.6, ISO 400.
I took a break from photographing the puffins at the Wick and photographed this Fulmar instead.
OM Systems OM-1 with 300mm f/4 lens and MC-14 teleconverter. 1/2000s, f/5.6, ISO 400.
What I would do differently next time
On arrival, the warden on Skomer recommended that we walk anti-clockwise around the island, ending the walk at the Wick where most of the puffins have their burrows. I took his advice, but half-way around the island, and two miles in, I regretted it. I had seen very few birds and any sea life was way too far in the distance to photograph. It was hot, I had no water, and I was carrying two camera bodies with large telephoto lenses. With hindsight, I suspect the warden was more concerned about crowd management, trying to prevent too many people heading directly to see the puffins. Next time I would head straight to the Wick and spend my time there.
Second, I wanted to get down low to photograph the birds at eye level but these days I'm getting a bit too old to spend hours on my knees. This made photographing the puffins harder work than it needed to be. So next time I would bring a small stool to sit on. This needs to have a tiny footprint because the path is very narrow at the Wick — just four feet or so in places. So something like a camping chair wouldn't work as you would block the path.
Third, I would shoot in Manual mode. I usually photograph birds in Shutter Priority mode. I set my speed to 1/2000s and ISO to 'Auto', and if my first few shots look OK, I then forget about camera settings. But on this bright, sunny day the exposure meter on my camera got confused when the birds flew in front of a cliff that was entirely in shadow. It compensated for all the black in the picture by over-exposing the image. I spotted this problem early enough to make the change but I lost a few dozen images before noticing the problem.
If you plan on visiting Skomer Island, I'd recommend this post by Rob Cottle: Photographing Puffins on Skomer Island. Rob's article gave me a good idea of what to expect from the trip and the article has some inspirational images.
