Skomer Atlantic Puffin Cliffs
Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK · Europe · wetland_coast
About this place
Investigate Fratercula arctica wing-propelled diving, backward-pointing palatal denticles, and UV-luminescent bill ridges.
For kids: Visit windy Welsh sea cliffs where rainbow-beaked puffins fly underwater and stack shiny fish like neat sandwiches!
Skomer Atlantic Puffin Cliffs · 360° Habitat Camp
What to look for
- Honeycombed thrift burrow turf — Fratercula arctica puffling burrows. Locate the Armeria maritima turf honeycombed with puffin nest tunnels
- Celtic Sea sand-eel current — Ammodytes marinus foraging front. Centre the tidal mixing front where alcids pursue schooling sand eels
- Guillemot & shearwater ledges — Puffinus puffinus nocturnal colony. Scan the sheer basalt ledges shared by guillemots, razorbills, and nocturnal shearwaters
Source: Dunning, Jamie et al. (2018), Ibis & Wanless et al. (2005) — Ultraviolet photoluminescence in Fratercula arctica breeding bills and Ammodytes sand-eel energetics.
Ask together: How do you think a puffin manages to catch a tenth slippery fish underwater without dropping the nine fish already in its beak?
Field quiz
Kids' question: What secret trick lets an Atlantic puffin hold a whole row of slippery fish in its beak at once?
- Tiny backward-pointing spikes on the roof of its mouth and a strong tongue
- Sticky honey smeared inside its cheeks
- A stretchy throat pouch like a pelican
Answer
Tiny backward-pointing spikes on the roof of its mouth and a strong tongue
Adults' question: What unexpected optical property did Dunning, Jamie et al. (2018) discover in the breeding bill of Fratercula arctica?
- Photoluminescence of yellow bill ridges under ultraviolet excitation
- Infrared thermal emission used to stun schooling fish in dark water
- Polarized mirror scales shedding saltwater spray
- Bioluminescent symbiotic bacteria living inside the nostrils
Answer
Photoluminescence of yellow bill ridges under ultraviolet excitation
360° photo: Arto häkkilä, CC0
See it live: Live check: Skomer Island Atlantic Puffin Burrow Cam
- By day
- Atlantic puffins billing outside burrows, razorbills & cliff rabbits Skomer supports southern Britain's largest puffin colony alongside dense populations of razorbills and common guillemots.
- By night
- 350,000 Manx shearwaters returning under darkness to avoid gulls Skomer hosts roughly half the world's breeding Manx shearwaters (Puffinus puffinus), which commute ashore strictly on moonless nights.
Other language: Русский