Overview
- The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, which announced the tally Wednesday, reported 52,019 birds, up from 43,626 last year.
- The spring census uses the same method wardens have followed since the 1980s, counting puffins on land, in the air, and at sea before they hide in burrows.
- Conservationists link the rise to plentiful local fish that boost chick survival and to the absence of rats and other predators on the island.
- The increase runs counter to declines at many UK sites and follows earlier reports this year of seabirds washing up on southern European beaches, a result the warden called a pleasant surprise.
- Skomer is an internationally important seabird refuge with guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, and fulmars, and puffins remain classed as vulnerable globally and red‑listed in the UK.