Skomer Island: Puffins, Puffins everywhere

DETAILS
Skomer Island

25 miles from the cottage


Puffins Galore!

Being a county with a coastline on three sides has its advantages. There’s over 200 miles of coastline to explore and enjoy, but it’s not just the beaches that steal the show. With remote and wild islands not far off the coast, boat trips are an obvious way to wile away the hours in Pembrokeshire.

One of Pembrokeshire’s finest gems has to be Skomer Island. Less than one mile off the coast it is a beautiful retreat from city life. A very well cared for National Nature Reserve, with a focus on conservation, where you’ll discover many species of flora, fauna and wildlife. But it’s perhaps most famous for hosting 25,000 breeding Puffins each year, the largest colony in Southern Britain.

There’s around 730 acres of land owned by Natural Resources Wales, (NRW) and managed by The Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales. Skomer is one of the the most accessible breeding sites for seabirds in Europe and you are almost guaranteed to see many species on your visit.

Depending on the time of year you visit you’ll likely see: Manx Shearwaters, Dolphins, Seals, Harbour Porpoises, Atlantic Grey Seal, Razorbills, Gannets, Fulmars, Guillemots, Rabbits and of course the famous Puffins. For a full list of wildlife check out the Pembrokeshire Islands website.

Probably my number one favourite thing to do in Pembrokeshire last summer was a landing trip to Skomer Island. This was an item on our bucket list early on in our Pembrokeshire adventures and I was delighted to make the trip last summer. 

I’d heard about the huge number of Puffins that inhabit the island from April until the end of July each year. I’m not entirely sure why, but since childhood I’ve loved Puffins (I think it’s something to do with a love of books and the Puffin classics). We booked our trip for mid July and I was a little nervous that we may be too late to see the Puffins. Wonderfully we were not disappointed.

What you need to know

The island is open from April to September but closed on Mondays. You get to Skomer by boat from Martin’s Haven. Landing trips are run by Pembrokeshire Islands Boat Trips.  It’s a short fifteen minute boat trip and where you land involves a steep walk up 87 steps - sensible shoes are most definitely required here.  

You’ll need to pre book your tickets as there is no longer an option to queue on the day and we’d advise booking early to avoid disappointment. You’ll pay £40 per person to land on Skomer - this includes the landing fee and boat trip. There are five outbound boat trips a day and you’ll have about four hours to explore the island before your return journey.

You’ll need to arrive one hour before departure. The ticket office and gift shop at Martin’s Haven is well stocked with books about Skomer and of course many Puffin souvenirs. This is where you'll get your Wildlife Trust Guide to the island with maps and information. They also have a selection of binoculars should you wish to buy some. There’s a toilet block on your way down to the jetty and our advice is to make use of it before your boat trip. The loos on Skomer are situated in the centre of the Island and a short walk from landing.

I should mention here Skomer is a wild Island with no cafe or shop. You’re advised to take plenty of water and food for your trip. Sunscreen and hats are also essential or wet weather gear if that’s the forecast for your trip. In terms of facilities there’s a former farmstead, now turned visitor centre and self catering accommodation in the centre of the island. You can pre book this to stay overnight and it houses the voluntary wardens for the season too. There’s one toilet block with composting loos and that really is about it!

Our trip

We booked our landing trip back in May and hoped it would be a good weather day (tickets are non refundable). To my delight we had amazing weather. Our trip fell during a heatwave (some might say it was a little too hot). The boat trip itself was where our adventure began. There was what transpired to be a resident Seagull who tended to hitch a ride on an unsuspecting passenger’s hat for almost the entire journey.

To my delight we saw Puffins well before we arrived on Skomer, swooping and diving to get fish for their young. We disembarked and made our way off the jetty where a warden greeted us and gave a welcome talk about the Island. Ready and armed with everything we needed to know to stay safe, and importantly to keep the Island safe, we were ready to explore. 

With litres of water and plenty of lunch we set off on our tour of the island. The Wildlife Trust guide suggested The Wick on the southern edge of Skomer as a main place to see Puffins. We were so keen to lay eyes on them that we decided to forego the East and North side of the Island and head for the central point and farmstead for a picnic lunch and toilet stop before going on in search of Puffins. 

Once refuelled and ready to go we made our way along the footpaths, past sweeping landscapes bursting with lush green grass and beautiful wildflowers. Due to the amazing weather we felt as though we could have been exploring a far off foreign island with stunning landscape and seascapes everywhere we looked. The coastal path is amazing and at points dramatic.  

Perhaps to our shame, we very much focussed on finding the Puffins at the exclusion of all other wildlife and sadly can’t comment too much on what else you might come across. Others from our boat saw Dolphins and Seals from the Northern edge of the island.

Eventually we arrived at The Wick, where there were thousands of very cute Puffins. It was incredible to observe them landing, taking off, swooping for fish and feeding their young. Bobbing in and out of their underground nests with fish in their beaks. Waddling across the path right next to us seemingly unbothered by our presence.

It’s safe to say that we were all (which is unusual in our house!!) enthralled by the Puffins. We spent more than half an hour watching them, oooing and ahhing at them and of course trying to capture the money shot of a Puffin coming in to land. I should mention this is extremely difficult and one which professional photographers spend hours waiting for, and with far more sophisticated equipment than ours.

Our few hours on Skomer seemed to fly by and before long we were running out of time before our boat trip back. In all honesty the only thing to draw us away from the Puffins was the need to get back to the landing point. Reluctantly we left The Wick and headed on around the coastal path. Thankfully this path is very beautiful and also happens to take you past another spot for Puffins - a wonderful consolation for leaving behind our ‘treasure’.

Slightly wilted by the extreme heat and very glad we’d taken litres of water, we waited for our boat ride back. Full of talk about what we’d seen and all fully satisfied by our adventure we boarded the boat hoping to spot Dolphins on our way back. There had been a sighting of a huge pod of Dolphins earlier that afternoon. Sadly we didn’t find them, that really would have been the icing in the cake!


A landing trip on Skomer is absolutely worth every single penny and suitable for younger and older children. Admittedly there is a lot of walking, and not suitable for pushchairs, but it’s a wonderful wildlife spotting adventure and one we’re glad we didn’t miss. If a landing trip seems too difficult there are multiple opportunities to go on Sea Safaris around Skomer instead, where you’ll likely see Dolphins and Seals, as well as various sea birds circling for fish.

I hope this has given you enough information to book a trip on Skomer. It really is a fabulous way to spend a day in Pembrokeshire!

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