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I don't think that'll work.Big hammer
I don't think that'll work.Big hammer
Still waiting for that 35mm f1.8
@nandbytes
I was at Legoland and Wednesday but thankfully made the decision to come over to Wales that evening (epic drive!) rather than make the journey during Thursday, as the boats aren't running today and very unlikely to run tomorrow, so it would have been a wasted 3 day trip.
Incredible day, the weather was gorgeous. I queued at 6:40am (about 30th in the queue at that point) got on the 10am boat and headed straight to The Wick, most people were old-ish and took their time walking around, so I didn't see anyone for the best part of an hour there.
An overwhelming amount to try and photograph, once I had a few keepers in the bag I found myself just observing much of the time as the puffins were so much fun to watch.
Skomer by Chris Harrison, on Flickr
In the evening I popped up to Solva and did an hour long walk between 8pm and 9pm, didn't see a single person, it was stunning.
Solva by Chris Harrison, on Flickr
Solva by Chris Harrison, on Flickr
More nice shots
I drove from London and back to it! It's bit of a trek but doable without much issues. I drove the previous day and stayed over at St.David's YHA. Queued from 6.30am next day and I was about 10-15th in line!
Yeah there are quite a number of them and thriving it seems which I am very happy about. They are in decline elsewhere in the UK. They are rather funny that watch, and funniest when they get into fights lol.
Ideally it'd be nice to have someone else with you and even better if they can share the driving. I couldn't find anyone so decided to go on my own in the end and I am very glad I did
Where are they are is the season "over'?
They are on an island just off the end of south west of Wales. Its called Skomer Island.
I believe the season ends in July, it runs for 4 months from from April to July. May and June being the peak season.
I guess you need at least a 200mm for them as you can't get up close? and how do you get across that last bit over the water?
For bird portrait shots of them I took a couple with my mobile phone lol. They are not scared of humans there in general and they'll happily just walk across you. So almost any lens will for this. To get shots of them in flight you'll need at least 400mm, better if you have >600mm.
There are 3 boats (at 10-11-12) each day that takes 50 people each. You need to queue up on the day (early in the morning since they sell out quickly) to get tickets for the boats. No prior/online bookings etc.
Alternatively it is also possible to stay on the island for couple nights but those tickets sell out in October previous year (which I am planning to book this year for next year but it being in Wales weather is bit of a risk). So for this year queueing up is the only option.
you get "5 hours" on the island before you HAVE to return (or about 4 hours of real/actual time since an hour is wasted in travels, talks etc)
you get "5 hours" on the island before you HAVE to return (or about 4 hours of real/actual time since an hour is wasted in travels, talks etc)
So you need to get there say at 9am and then hope for the first boat and if its full you get a seat on the 2nd and then you leave before 3?
That means no sunrise or sunset shots unless you stay over.
Why is this? they have no later returns? Unfortunate they don't at least run a couple to return people after the sunset. The Puffins with a golden sun going down in the back drop could make for some glorious images
I got there at 6.30am. I was 10-15th in queue. You'll almost certainly not get a ticket if you arrive at 9am. But yes first come first served, but you can by all means pick 1st, 2nd or 3rd boat if there are spaces free. So for example since I was early i could have chosen to go on any of the boats, I just went on the first one since I had a long drive back to London.
Indeed no sunrie or sunset in the island unless you stay. In fact if you have good weather you can even get some beautiful night sky shots too if you stay. Of course you can always catch sunrise and sunset on the Pembroke coast which is also very nice. i'll post a couple shots of these later.
basically if you go on 10am boat you HAVE to return on 3pm boat. If you get on the last boat at 12pm/noon you HAVE to return at 5pm. There are no boats after that. They'll get really cross with you if you overstay your welcome.
Indeed it would make for some lovely and beautiful shots. You could get some epic landscapes too. But only way you can do this is if you stay on the island. The accommodation on the island isn't actually all that expensive for the experience you get but you HAVE to stay 2 night.
Any camping allowed? For less crippley folk than I that could be a good option
I got there at 6.30am. I was 10-15th in queue. You'll almost certainly not get a ticket if you arrive at 9am. But yes first come first served, but you can by all means pick 1st, 2nd or 3rd boat if there are spaces free. So for example since I was early i could have chosen to go on any of the boats, I just went on the first one since I had a long drive back to London.
Indeed no sunrie or sunset in the island unless you stay. In fact if you have good weather you can even get some beautiful night sky shots too if you stay. Of course you can always catch sunrise and sunset on the Pembroke coast which is also very nice. i'll post a couple shots of these later.
basically if you go on 10am boat you HAVE to return on 3pm boat. If you get on the last boat at 12pm/noon you HAVE to return at 5pm. There are no boats after that. They'll get really cross with you if you overstay your welcome.
Indeed it would make for some lovely and beautiful shots. You could get some epic landscapes too. But only way you can do this is if you stay on the island. The accommodation on the island isn't actually all that expensive for the experience you get but you HAVE to stay 2 night.
their website - https://www.welshwildlife.org/skomer-skokholm/skomer/
Sounds like a fun day out.
Leave house at 3am, get there by 6, leave by 3, back home by 7.
Go for it it's worth it. It's a unique experience for sure.
6 days a week (no boat landing on Mondays)Do the boats run 7 days a week?
nope no camping. Only way to stay on the island is if you book the overnight accommodation.
They have a path marked out on the island, so when you are on the island you can't simply go wandering where ever you like. You have to stay on the paths.
Its are very protective for the birds and for a good reason. If you lets people wander, people being people will trample all over the birds' nests and destroy the wildlife there. They nest in burrows like rabbits.
There are no problems getting close to Puffins on Skomer. They will literally stand you if you’re not careful! To be honest lens minimum focus distance can be a problem.I guess you need at least a 200mm for them as you can't get up close?
The reason is there are 3 boats out (they often add 2 extra boats in peak periods to make 5 boats) and the same number back. Every boat going out is full to capacity and therefore need to be full on the way back too. They can’t leave without the boat being full otherwise there won’t be enough space on the last boat back. In the evenings the boat operator often run evening trips around the island. it’s probably difficult and potentially unsafe to land on Skomer after dark (they drive the boat into a tyre attached to the cliff and you get off at the front whilst is being held against the cliff). If you want to get sunset light you need to stay over. Sadly the Wick doesn’t face the setting sun. You may be able to get the setting sun from Garland Stone or Bull Hole but there aren’t many Puffins accessible in those areas.Why is this? they have no later returns? Unfortunate they don't at least run a couple to return people after the sunset. The Puffins with a golden sun going down in the back drop could make for some glorious images
There are no problems getting close to Puffins on Skomer. They will literally stand you if you’re not careful! To be honest lens minimum focus distance can be a problem.
The reason is there are 3 boats out (they often add 2 extra boats in peak periods to make 5 boats) and the same number back. Every boat going out is full to capacity and therefore need to be full on the way back too. They can’t leave without the boat being full otherwise there won’t be enough space on the last boat back. In the evenings the boat operator often run evening trips around the island. it’s probably difficult and potentially unsafe to land on Skomer after dark (they drive the boat into a tyre attached to the cliff and you get off at the front whilst is being held against the cliff). If you want to get sunset light you need to stay over. Sadly the Wick doesn’t face the setting sun. You may be able to get the setting sun from Garland Stone or Bull Hole but there aren’t many Puffins accessible in those areas.
To do Skomer as a photographer right you have stay over. Only around 48 people per week get to experience that so places book up fast when booking opens in October especially for peak Puffin season (late May-mid July). Stays used to be a minimum of 2 nights (Tues & Weds, thurs & Fri, Sunday & Monday) with Saturday being being able to be added to a Friday or Sunday booking to make a 3 night stay.
1/ you get the best light at sunrise and sunset (the light disappears behind a cliff about 30 mins before sunset. If you stand around for 30-40 mins the sky can sometimes explode into a pink and blue band).
2/ huge numbers of Puffins congregate on the cliffs at sunset, many more than during the day
3/ there are only 16 people on the island compared to an extra 250 day trippers during the day.
4/ the Wick is far too busy during the day. If you’re staying there are often only 3-4 of you there at sunset depending on the number of photographers staying.
5/you get to experience 500,000-600,000 Manx Shearwaters coming back at night. The noise is epic as they pass within inches of you. It’s probably a better experience than the Puffins.
For kit a wide angle and 70-200 is the best kit at the Wick. A longer lens is useful to get boating Puffins at the landing stage just after the last day tripper boat leaves (better light than in the morning). You can get to the water level for a great angle.
Wish I had found you before I went lol.There are no problems getting close to Puffins on Skomer. They will literally stand you if you’re not careful! To be honest lens minimum focus distance can be a problem.
The reason is there are 3 boats out (they often add 2 extra boats in peak periods to make 5 boats) and the same number back. Every boat going out is full to capacity and therefore need to be full on the way back too. They can’t leave without the boat being full otherwise there won’t be enough space on the last boat back. In the evenings the boat operator often run evening trips around the island. it’s probably difficult and potentially unsafe to land on Skomer after dark (they drive the boat into a tyre attached to the cliff and you get off at the front whilst is being held against the cliff). If you want to get sunset light you need to stay over. Sadly the Wick doesn’t face the setting sun. You may be able to get the setting sun from Garland Stone or Bull Hole but there aren’t many Puffins accessible in those areas.
To do Skomer as a photographer right you have stay over. Only around 48 people per week get to experience that so places book up fast when booking opens in October especially for peak Puffin season (late May-mid July). Stays used to be a minimum of 2 nights (Tues & Weds, thurs & Fri, Sunday & Monday) with Saturday being being able to be added to a Friday or Sunday booking to make a 3 night stay.
1/ you get the best light at sunrise and sunset (the light disappears behind a cliff about 30 mins before sunset. If you stand around for 30-40 mins the sky can sometimes explode into a pink and blue band).
2/ huge numbers of Puffins congregate on the cliffs at sunset, many more than during the day
3/ there are only 16 people on the island compared to an extra 250 day trippers during the day.
4/ the Wick is far too busy during the day. If you’re staying there are often only 3-4 of you there at sunset depending on the number of photographers staying.
5/you get to experience 500,000-600,000 Manx Shearwaters coming back at night. The noise is epic as they pass within inches of you. It’s probably a better experience than the Puffins.
For kit a wide angle and 70-200 is the best kit at the Wick. A longer lens is useful to get boating Puffins at the landing stage just after the last day tripper boat leaves (better light than in the morning). You can get to the water level for a great angle.
I’m unfortunately not local as I’m in Bedfordshire so 2 nights on Skomer meant 3 days as we would stay the night before at the travelodge at Pembroke Dock. I went for a day trip back in 2013 and returned to stay each year between 2013-2015.Wish I had found you before I went lol.
Great advice here. Are you local and have you been many times?
That’s great to know, thank you.
It sounds like something interesting to do, but if landscaping and “easy” wild life with a little holiday thrown in!
Nope and zooms that do exist for APS-C e-mount sucksStill looking to get a school a daily driver for mixed use. They don't want it too heavy, so I was thinking I'd go APS-C.
But are there no fast APS-C emount zooms?
Looking at Fuji XT-3 we have...
Fujifilm 16-55mm f2.8 R LM WR Fujinon Lens
Fujifilm 55-200mm f3.5-4.8 R LM OIS XF Fujinon Lens (or Fujinon XF Telephoto 50-140mm f/2.8 even)
But what about the ... A6400
I think I lucked out big time, 10am crossing plus lots of, er, older folks meant I was completely alone for about an hour, even at The Wick. I've only had a few truly emotional breathtaking moments that I'll never forget when travelling (first time arriving in NYC and Hong Kong, staying in Monument Valley) but this was genuinely one of them, I felt like I was the last person on earth for a while. It never really got too busy despite being at capacity towards the end of my day. The majority of people only had phones so nobody was hogging positions with big lenses or anything.
Loads of photos here:[url]https://www.flickr.com/photos/harry_s/albums/72157708976442721[/url]
South Wales 2019 by Chris Harrison, on Flickr
South Wales 2019 by Chris Harrison, on Flickr
South Wales 2019 by Chris Harrison, on Flickr
Still looking to get a school a daily driver for mixed use. They don't want it too heavy, so I was thinking I'd go APS-C.
But are there no fast APS-C emount zooms?
Looking at Fuji XT-3 we have...
Fujifilm 16-55mm f2.8 R LM WR Fujinon Lens
Fujifilm 55-200mm f3.5-4.8 R LM OIS XF Fujinon Lens (or Fujinon XF Telephoto 50-140mm f/2.8 even)
But what about the ... A6400
Just bought an A6000, samyang 12/2, sigma 30/1.4 and Nikon AIS 55 macro to start taking images again after a lengthy break from photography.
Any tips to getting the best out the A6000 for landscape, portraits and family/holiday use? I was thinking of picking up the 16-50 kit lens for casual use.
A little write up on the practicalities of Skomer if anyone is interested...
http://www.chrisharrisonphotography.com/new-blog/2019/6/7/skomer
The boat dropped off some overnighters before we boarded, one guy managed to drop his big bag over the edge into the sea!
Just bought an A6000, samyang 12/2, sigma 30/1.4 and Nikon AIS 55 macro to start taking images again after a lengthy break from photography.
Any tips to getting the best out the A6000 for landscape, portraits and family/holiday use? I was thinking of picking up the 16-50 kit lens for casual use.