The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales are pleased to announce another record-breaking year, with 43,626 Puffins recorded on their Skomer Island Nature Reserve located off the coast of Pembrokeshire. Every year The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales (WTSWW) undertakes their annual seabird counts to monitor the population of Puffins that return to the island every spring to breed. Leighton Newman, warden at the is an internationally important seabird island, said: “Our annual Puffin count is no small undertaking, with 6 members of staff working to count every Puffin on Skomer. The island is broken up into seven sections and we systematically count every bird; on the land, rafting on the sea and we estimate the number in the air during our counts. “This is undertaken in the evening, when there are generally more Puffins around the island and early enough in the season that birds are not already in burrows. Big land falls this year, has led to Puffins being seen further up the cliffs than ever before!” The previous record was set in 2023, with 42,513 Puffins recorded on and around the island. The increase seen on Skomer bucks the trend of decline seen globally in Puffin populations.
