With the withdraw of NRW funding for our seal monitoring work in 2024, Emma’s help in the field was much appreciated. We are hoping she can also help to answer some statistical questions, enabling us to make valid comparisons between the previous survey methods used up to 2023 and the adapted one trialled for the first time in 2024. 

Emma said, “I have just spent six incredible weeks on Skomer Island monitoring their grey seal population as part of my year in research at Swansea University. As a newcomer, it is hard not to assume Skomer is always a noisy island bustling with extraordinary colonies of Kittiwakes, Razorbills, Guillemots and of course Puffins, but Skomer in autumn is the complete antithesis. October was a peaceful time, with only the occasional calls from gulls and jackdaws.

Though many seabirds were long gone, Skomer was still teeming with wildlife. In the early morning, dozens of Canada geese could be seen flying above in huge V formations and at dusk hundreds of Manx Shearwater chicks emerged from their burrows onto the paths, so every footstep had to be carefully calculated. There was always something to see and something to do. I spent hours watching adorable seal pups at North Haven, pods off dolphins swimming off Bull Hole and Short-eared owls flying above the farm, even the fungi I saw were fascinating! My most remarkable memory from Skomer was unfortunately one of my last, I saw over a hundred seals packed like sardines on Castle Bay, the largest haul out I had ever seen!

I felt exceedingly lucky to be immersed in the tight-knit community there and assisting such devoted people with island tasks provided me with such a deep appreciation for conservation efforts. I will truly miss sitting together with hot water bottles after a cold day and eating warm hearty food!”