Waterfalls of Stars: Ten Years on Skomer Island

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Which sucks because I was really looking forward to reading this book, I love anything written about the non-touristy parts of Europe, the UK, and Ireland. And yet, with the benefit of hindsight she can also discuss the larger picture and the long-term perspective in how she changed over the ten years, how her relationship with the island changed but also with the rest of the world – increasingly uneasy with the mainland’s speed when living on the island could be so free from the stressors of modern life, you could almost forget you were living in the 20th century.

It is an important breeding ground for many birds, and shearwaters, puffins and kittiwakes and the seals become a source of pleasure and companionship.

It was impossible to enter the water there without feeling the breath snag in the back of my throat and thinking ‘never again’, but its appearance was so limpidly enticing that I fell victim to its temptations again and again. I suppose I am biased in my view of the book, since it’s about a part of the world I know well it meant I connected strongly to the book.

They’re not well paid nor do they have access to food very easily and there was no electricity in the house then (which has changed by this point, but not so during the 1980s that Alexander lived on Skomer), so there’s many challenges in living in such a place – particularly when something goes wrong, like food supplies running out or Mike getting caught in a storm. Having volunteered on Ramsey Island several times, just round from Skomer, this book brought back so many lovely memories.

We would like your consent to use cookies that allow us to give you a personalised experience and advertise to you elsewhere on the internet. When he finds out about the advertisement for a warden-job at Skomer, his life’s dream, he persuades Rosanne to go with him as the job requires a couple to apply. Beautiful descriptions, I'm not usually one for nature writing but I was compelled by the human story of living amongst so much nature. I really enjoyed the different stories that encapsulated the challenges and joys Alexander and her husband experienced while living on Skomer, and once they were unveiled the book was hard to put down.

These birds use Skomer as a home, or as a spring board to other places, a breeding ground, or possibly, even a holiday destination. An isolated island, a sanctuary for thousands of birds, surrounded by a wild sea — not the ideal honeymoon for a twenty-year-old bride, one would imagine. That wonderful Welsh publishing house, SEREN BOOKS, takes us on a walk on the scenic side with two books to gladden the heart of any lover of the natural world. His credentials, and his publications are prodigious; this new book especially endears him to Welsh hearts.There are many sections that are entirely given over to narrating what is happening on the island in terms of wildlife, from the seabirds nesting to the seal pups separating from their mothers to the goat they adopt making mischief or the rabbits making their way through their plantation. It is experiential, fresh, and alive, reflecting the peripheral environment where this book was born. In many ways then, this book is the testament of living in direct connection with nature in all of its faucets; often harsh and dangerous, at other times absolutely magical.

With her lyrical evocation of the natural world and its enthusiastic and resourceful approach to the problems of island life, Alexander’s book will inspire and entertain anyone who has felt the need for escape. I think it would have benefitted from some more editing - I felt that some of the writing about seals and storms became repetitive. This was the first of many challenges Roseanne and Mike faced during their ten years on the nature reserve, from coping with periods of isolation when they were the island's only inhabitants, to dwindling food supplies during the winter when rough weather made provisioning from the mainland impossible. Here was an extremely young couple who married solely to secure a job, living on a island for ten years; the oft-repeated phrase ‘I loved it so much’ doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what their life must have been like, and that lack of personal reflection and emotions prevented me from fully connecting to this memoir.

The descriptions of Skomer in this book are evocatively crafted; if you have ever considered becoming a hermit, even temporarily, reading this will do nothing to quell that desire. With great sensitivity, and humour, Rosanne Alexander relates their experiences on Skomer, including her observations of the island’s wildlife and landscape. In all likelihood, she wrote plentiful of journals that the memoir is based on – as it feels so present. I did feel it could have done with a bit of an edit or a re-think structurally - and I also wanted to know more about her relationship with her husband and more about their jobs on the island and also more about the food they ate.