Visits to Skomer are usually made at the breeding season of the seabirds in May, June and July. These are often also the months of the finest weather in the west, when the cliff flowers, the most arresting of the floral sequence of the island, are at their best, seen as they are against a background of ultramarine sea and of hosts of seabirds coming and going against the paler blue of the sky. In May the high eastern slopes are purple-blue with large strong- stemmed bluebells; and below are snow- white drifts of sea- campion, which has succeeded (and partly mingles with) the greener white of the early flowering scurvy-grass. In June the general colour changes to a delicate pink as acres of the beautiful thrift or sea-pink come into blossom, especially on the exposed western and southern cliffs; and on the sheltered ledges of the north-east side where there is sufficient soil the luxuriant maritime variety of the red campion triumphs over the fading flowers of the primrose, bluebell and sea- campion. Towards the end of June the bracken begins to dominate completely large areas of Skomer; its crozier-like shoots have been slow to unfold in the cool Atlantic winds (a month later perhaps than in sheltered mainland situations), and the plant does not reach a great stature; it forms a dense low cover from one to three feet high which effectively banishes or limits the growth of vegetation in areas where the bracken has long been established. In July, therefore, Skomer has assumed a viridescent colouring made up of the pale grass-green of the rabbit-grazed turf and the darker green of the maturing bracken. This is relieved in August by bright yellow patches of ragwort. The first high winds of autumn quickly turn the exposed areas of the bracken a russet colour.