SENSATIONAL SKOMER
2 & 3 Night Puffin Residential
Photography Workshops on Skomer Island
- Since 2016 -
OFFICIAL WILDLIFE TRUST & SKOMER ISLAND COMMERCIAL OPERATOR
Join Skomer expert and local award winning landscape & wildlife Canon photographer Drew Buckley and Nikon Ambassador, Richard Peters on either a 2 or 3 night photography workshop visiting one of Britain’s finest island habitats and it’s enigmatic wildlife.
On this workshop, you'll receive tuition from two full time professional photographers, who between them, have over 350+ days of experience on the island. This means, you will be taken to best locations based on the conditions. We'll be staying on Skomer Island; the best place to get up close and personal to its charismatic summer visitor, the Puffin. We’ll spend many nights on the island seeing everything that the island in summer has to offer.
From the swathes of colourful wild flowers, to hundreds of Puffins and seabirds flying around you, there’s really no better place to spend time with your camera!
About the Workshop
This tour is aimed at all levels of photographic experience and everyone will come away with good images of the birds. Over this trip we will be on hand 24/7 to answer any queries and help you get the best out of your camera. This includes guiding you through using the best camera settings and techniques for conditions on the day. We will cover choosing the correct auto focus mode and settings, selecting the right shutter speed and camera settings, together with tracking and panning techniques for the ever bird in flight photography. Even down to local knowledge, helping to predict the flight paths and helping to choose the right birds to look out for and identifying behaviour and when to anticipate the action, such as diving. We welcome those who are just starting out, or those who are experienced in bird photography looking to improve their images.
Tours
MAY
Two or Three night workshop
Highlights to include vast carpets of Bluebells and cliff tops covered in pink sea Thrift. The bracken isn't as prominent during this time allowing you to see the topography of the island better, and ultimately spot ground nesting birds such as Short Eared Owls; who will be hunting among the wild flowers. There's typically patches of Bluebells around the Wick too, so Puffins nestled in them isn't uncommon.
If it's a three night tour, then the trip will fall over a Monday, which also means we get no day trippers to the island that day, giving us the entire island almost to ourselves.
The Guides
Drew Buckley
Multi award winning landscape & wildlife photographer Drew Buckley has grown up and has worked since 2010 as a professional photographer in the beautiful Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Drew lives nearby and runs his own photographic workshops to Skomer every year, so it's fair to say he has intimate knowledge of the island, the area and it's wildlife. Drew has written his own book on the life of Puffins and he says they are one of his favourite photographic subjects. He's built up an impressive image library over the years of these clowns of the sea; in particular, being featured on the front cover image of the highly acclaimed BBC Wildlife magazine twice with Puffin images (2014 + 2022). He is an RSPB accredited supplier of images to their stock library and also a Kase Filters & f-stop ambassador and works with Canon UK. He works with the BBC Natural History unit to provide content for nature documentaries, including spending two years working on A Wild Year Pembrokeshire.
Richard Peters
Richard Peters is a UK based professional photographer and Nikon Ambassador, with a style that often favours dramatic light and contrast. Through capturing a combination of mood, tones and atmosphere within his wildlife images, Richard's work has been awarded internationally including twice in the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year plus, in 2015, being named the GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Richard has spent the many summers visiting Skomer with Drew so has gained a lot of knowledge in finding the most favourable areas on the island for dramatic images. He's also a judge on many acclaimed photography competitions.
Free as a bird
Once on the island, unpacked and relaxed, our access is unlimited. Meaning you can go where you please via the paths, whenever you wish.
The real magic of staying on Skomer Island, lay within the fact that day trippers are only allowed on the island between 10am and 5pm. This means we have the entire island to ourselves for the most important parts of the day, sunrise and sunset. This allows for unprecedented and unrestricted photography all over the island, meaning you will never have to jostle with strangers for the optimum viewing positions.
Choose a 3 night tour and this includes a 'day-tripper-free' Monday.
ITINERARY
MAY TOURS
In May our trips capitalise on the potential opportunity to photograph the puffins among the wild flowers and bluebells. With less ground covering plants such as bracken, spotting ground nesting birds like the stunning Short Eared Owls will also be favourable.
DAY 1: We meet at Westhook Farm to park our cars. We will load all of your luggage into Drew’s vehicle and transport it down to the dock. Whilst we are doing that, you can walk the scenic and beautiful coastal path down to the dock. We will then transport over to the island by boat. After a briefing from both the island staff and Richard and Drew, the photography begins. We know the island very well, so will base where to go depending on the weather conditions each day.
DAY 2: Conditions permitting, we will head out for sunrise before heading back to the farm house for a well earned breakfast. We will always aim to get out and shoot before the day trippers arrive around 10:30am. During the main bulk of the day there is opportunity to rest, review images or explore the island under your own steam. We will then all gather for dinner at 5pm before setting out as a group for the evenings shoot.
DAY 3: Much the same as Sunday but with one exception. There are no days visitors on Monday’s, meaning we have the island to ourselves to fully enjoy our surroundings.
DAY 4: For those that wish, a final sunrise shoot before breakfast and getting our bags ready for an 8am luggage drop back to the landing spot. The boat will then collect us around 9am to ferry us back to the mainland. We will then transfer your bags back up to the farm before we set off homeward bound.
If the weather allows on one evening we will then head out after dark to take in the sights and sounds of the 700,000 Manx Shearwaters that descend on the island under cover of darkness.
Two night workshops follow much the same pattern, with the exception we go Thursday to Saturday.
Dates & Costs
2025 Dates
Saturday 10th to Tuesday 13th May
3 nights
Thursday 15th to Saturday 18th May
2 nights
Location
Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire,
Wales, UK
Price PER PERSON
Two nights - £899
Three nights - £1099
Deposit - £399
(Non-refundable)
What to Expect
Puffins and seabirds in the thousands with great close up views. There’s a constant whirl of birds at the Wick flying past that will test your photography tracking skills. Little & Short Eared Owls, Flora and fauna all over the island. Guillemots, Razorbills, Oystercatchers & Seals. Manx Shearwaters at night.
Included
All accommodation on the island
Luggage Transfer to & from car park to dock
Home cooked local dinners
Breakfast, lunch and snacks
Soft drinks and limited alcohol
Island landing fee
Boat fee to the island
PDF mini-ebook with shooting tips and ideas for the island
Excluded
B&B / accommodation the night before departure
Car park fee (£24 / 2024 price)
Personal & Travel Insurance
Sundry items
Exertion Level
This workshop is suitable for intermediate levels of fitness. There are some inclines and declines when landing on the island, including a steep set of steps. On the island there are about four miles of well maintained paths, some parts there’s quite a few elevation changes over uneven ground and some boggy sections. Generally easy going.
HOWEVER - You will be required to form a chain gang and/or carry luggage up and down steeps steps off the boat and to the farm accommodation. Do not proceed with your booking unless you're comfortable doing this.
Accommodation
Accommodation is off grid living. The facilities provide simple, comfortable accommodation with electricity and hot water generated from the sun. There are same-sex shared bedrooms (dormitory) and a shared, equipped, kitchen. Pillows and duvets are available for you to use, but you need to bring your own sheets, pillowcase and a duvet cover or sleeping bag.
KIT LIST
Skomer is one of those places where you can use any lens and get a frame filler of a Puffin! From the widest wide angle to the longest telephoto and everything in between.
Book Now
Spaces on our Sensational Skomer workshops are very limited. A non-refundable deposit of £399 will secure your space with final balances due 60 days before your workshop starts.
Please choose from the available spaces on the right, add the basket and checkout online.
If it is showing out of stock then all the spaces have been filled - therefore do sign up to the newsletter and be put on the waiting list for cancellations.
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