The small island that became a rare success in the conservation of birds vulnerable to extinction

Forefront of a frailecillo on Skomer Island. — Photo foot, Conservationists have counted 43,626 frailecillos on Skomer Island this year: a new record.

- Author, Elen Davies
- Author's title, BBC News
8 hours

A record number of Frailecillos continues to reach a small island off the coast of Wales despite the fact that the world population of this species of birds continues to decrease rapidly.

According to the Southern and West Wildlife Fund (WTSWW), this year 43,626 frailecillos on Skomer Island, the highest figure ever recorded have been counted this year.

The WTSWW states that the increase in the number of frailecillos in this nature reserve is “a history of conservation success”, but warns that it is still a threatened species that should remain protected.

Skomer, an island of 2.92 square kilometers worldwide known for its fauna of sea birds, is administered by the WTSWW.

The isolation of the island protects it from predators such as rats, cats, dogs and foxes, and also of human impact.

In addition to a growing population of frailecillos, Skomer also houses many other bird species. They include 350,000 couples of Balearic Pardels and thousands of Araos and common alkas.

Each year, the WTSW performs an annual count of sea birds in order to monitor the population of these animals that each spring returns to the island to reproduce.

The frailecillos are counted by six staff members at the beginning of the season during a sunset.

“A great job”

Rob Knott, who works for the tourism office of the island, says that counting the birds was “a great job.”

“We divide the island into sections and turn about two hours before sunset, when there are more (frailecillos) on the island,” he explains.

“We take out our counters and count all the birds that are on land, then those that are at sea and also those in the air.”

The last record was broken in 2023, when 42,513 frailecillos on the island and its surroundings were recorded.

Forefront of a frailecillo in the herb of Skomer island. — Photo foot, The frailecillos are classified as vulnerable to extinction in the UICN Global Red List.

“We believe that (the accuracy of the count) is probably among a few hundred or perhaps a thousand birds,” says Rob.

“Of course, that figure is not exact, but as we count and the registration of birds in the same way every year, we always report the figure that arises from that annual count as the final figure.”

While on this British island the frailecillos seem to be thriving, in other places its population is suffering a rapid decline.

Like many species of sea birds, the frailecillos are classified as vulnerable to extinction in the Red List of the International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN). They face pollution, food shortages and climate change.

Two frailecillos on Skomer island surrounded by grass and flowers. — Photo foot, Conservationists believe that frailecillos are thriving on Skomer Island because there abounds the food they consume and there are no predators.

According to the WTSWW, the population growth of frailecillos of Skomer island “is probably related to the abundance of food in the area, since there are many fish for the young, which makes reproduction highly successful.”

They add that the absence of rats and other predators on the island has also contributed to the success of conservation of sea birds.

“Cairously optimistic”

Rob points out that the 25,000 visitors receiving the island every year are often “impressed” by the amount of frailecillos.

However, he warns that there are new threats to these sea birds, such as avian flu and recent heat waves in the sea waters that have occurred in some parts of the United Kingdom coast.

A man looks at the camera and smiles. He is standing on Skomer Island with the sea behind him. It wears a blue sweatshirt and glasses. He smiles at the camera and has red -haired hair. — Photo foot, Rob Knott says that telling the frailecillos on Skomer island is “a great job.”

“I think that monitoring work is absolutely vital, because it informs us about the state of these seabirds (…) helps us analyze policies on how we can make the figures increase in the future,” he says.

“Here they are doing well, but this is due that (Skomer Island) is a good example: there are other places where the number (of frailecillos) is going down quite quickly,” he continues.

“We stay cautiously optimistic about the figures we are seeing.”

“They are absolutely emblematic birds and the fact that they are in the red list is bad news for many reasons, in particular because they used to prosper a lot, so we are doing everything possible to try to improve those figures.”