'Above the petrel station' was inspired by a week long painting trip to the tiny Pembrokeshire island of Skokholm. A truly magical place that is affectionately known as 'Dream Island'. Designated a SSSI, its delicate ecosystem is both precarious and precious.
Carpets of flowers adorn the sub-maritime grassland, heath and salt marsh habitats, and you'll find nationally scarce lichens and unique fungi. Despite being only 260 acres in size, Skokholm houses 15% of the world population of Manx shearwater and 20% of European storm petrels, not to mention many thousands of puffins, razorbills and guillemots, gulls, oystercatchers, skylarks, wheatears and chough. Passage migrants, include chiffchaffs, willow warblers, whitethroats, redstarts and flycatchers.
'The Petrel Station', as it is nicknamed, is a breeding site and monitoring station for the European Storm Petrels. Equipped with special cameras it enables the wardens to record the behaviour and health of the population.
I loved seeing all the birds, especially the Puffins, Shearwaters and Petrels. As a painter though, the most striking visual aspect of the island is the richness of its colours and textures. The ancient red sandstone (that is such a deep dusky pink it seems unreal), the bright orange of the lichen that clings to it, and the deep teal of the sea. It is all spectacular.
