Skomer is one of Britain’s most spectacular National Nature Reserves, attracting tens of thousands of visitors a year and featuring regularly in magazines, radio and TV wildlife programmes. It is a haven for seabirds such as Puffins and Manx Shearwaters, and the breathtaking displays of spring flowers, including coast-to-coast bluebells, give the island an almost unrivalled beauty. It is also one of the best-preserved prehistoric landscapes in Britain.

This is the most complete account of the island’s history and natural history ever produced, beautifully illustrated throughout with the author’s own exquisite photographs of species and habitats, as well as previously unpublished archive photographs from the island’s former farming families.

This book is the fruit of Mike Alexander’s close connection with the island for almost 60 years, and will appeal to professional conservationists as well as amateur naturalists, birdwatchers and avid viewers of TV nature programmes such as the BBC’s Countryfile and Springwatch.

Mike Alexander’s biography:

Mike Alexander is Chair of the Wildlife Trust South and West Wales and the Pembrokeshire Islands Advisory Committee. He was Warden of Skomer for ten years.

Later he worked for the Countryside Council for Wales, where his responsibilities included the management of the series of National Nature Reserves in Wales, a position he held for over two decades.

He is Chair of Pori Natur a Threftadaeth (PONT), which builds bridges between nature conservation and farmers in Wales.

He has long been at the forefront of developing management planning for nature conservation, initially working with the main conservation organisations in Britain. His work has since gained an international reputation and he has been involved with countries as diverse as Costa Rica, Uganda, India, the Netherlands and Estonia. He is the author of Management Planning for Nature Conservation (2013), now in its second edition and the standard international textbook on the subject.

He is an honorary lecturer in the School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, where he is involved in both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. Mike is a Fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, and the Royal Society of Biology.

He is also a very accomplished photographer and his work regularly appears in books and magazines such as BBC Countryfile.

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