Grayling & Chough
 

Having spent the evening of Day 1 at Marloes Sands I thought I would try somewhere different for my second evening. So after driving a reasonable distance to find the nearest fish and chip shop, I returned to the peninsula opposite Skomer island itself to see what I could find.
 

The headland, which includes Wooltack Point, offers great views of Skomer Island itself (more of those later). But it also allowed me the opportunity to photograph two species of wildlife I hadn't photographed before.
 

The first of these was a butterfly - the Grayling. One of the less colourful species, it's mottled wings blended in very well with the surrounding vegetation, making it well camouflaged. There were a few Grayling around, all of which insisted on staying very close to the ground. But they did stay still enough for me to take a couple of shots, all hand held using the brilliant Canon 100 mm F2.8 macro lens.
 

GraylingWooltack Point, nr Skomer, Pembrokeshire, Wales

GraylingWooltack Point, nr Skomer, Pembrokeshire, Wales

GraylingWooltack Point, nr Skomer, Pembrokeshire, Wales
 

But I spent the bulk of the remaining daylight hours chasing a speciality of the region - the unmistakable Chough!!
 

You are supposed to be able to see Chough on Skomer island itself, but I didn't see a single one during my two day visits. However, there were four or five birds just across the water on the mainland. They are quite shy birds and it took quite a lot of patience getting close to them. And they were very wary when I approached with the light behind me. As with many black birds, the key is to get a catch light in the eye, otherwise it disappears completely! 
 

One juvenile bird was particularly noisy, calling constantly for food. I managed to get a couple of images of this bird and the attendant adult birds that were dutifully always nearby.  
 

ChoughWooltack Point, nr Skomer, Pembrokeshire, Wales

Chough with JuvenileWooltack Point, nr Skomer, Pembrokeshire, Wales
 

ChoughWooltack Point, nr Skomer, Pembrokeshire, Wales
 

Chough with JuvenileWooltack Point, nr Skomer, Pembrokeshire, Wales
 

ChoughWooltack Point, nr Skomer, Pembrokeshire, Wales