How to see puffins on Skomer Island in Wales
Skomer Island is the best place to see puffins in Wales. Throughout spring and summer, the craggy isle off the coast of Pembrokeshire becomes a frenzy of thousands of whirring wings. Their vibrant beaks pack a punch, boldly contrasted against their white and black suits like well-dressed servers. Carpets of bluebells and red campion colour the centre of this Welsh island, one of the UK’s most important seabird breeding sites annually. Read on to discover how you can see the puffins on Skomer Island.
Updated January 2023
Rocky shorelines and jagged inlets are home to the largest colony of puffins in the UK. Among shaded coves and exposed headlands, Atlantic puffins spend the summer burrowed into the woven warrens that pocket the cliffsides. Here on Skomer Island, you’ll find the best place to see puffins in Wales.
Spotting these orange-beaked comedic birds won’t require binoculars or telephoto lenses. Their webbed feet thump-thump-thumping on the dusty paths, they carry on with their day as if you weren’t ogling at each and every one.
Torpedoing back to the windswept headlands, mouths overflowing with sand eels for their young, the puffins come and go at an impressive 55mph. With tens of thousands of mating pairs returning to the lichen-laced bluffs every summer, this is the place to be if you want to surround yourself with these much-loved sea birds.
Skomer Island Puffins at a glance
Where: Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK
How to get there: Boat from Martin’s Haven landing
Cost: £40 for boat and landing fee
When: April to August
WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO SEE PUFFINS ON SKOMER ISLAND?
The best time to see puffins on Skomer Island is from April to August, with colony numbers peaking between May and July. During this time, adult puffins will regularly be returning from sea with beaks full of sand eels to feed their young, known as pufflings.
The 2023 season for Skomer Island landings operates from 1st April - 30th September 2023.
Puffins spend much of the year at sea, but next in their burrows on Skomer Island and several other UK locations during the breeding season. Puffins spend approximately four months on land during this time, and the season on Skomer Islands follows a well-synchronised schedule which means adult puffins arrive and depart within a few days of each other.
Puffins mate for life and return to the same burrow every year, producing only a single egg each season. The puffin season on Skomer Island runs like this:
From early April puffins begin to arrive on land to begin their nest building.
From mid-April to mid-May female puffins begin egg-laying in the burrows.
From mid-May to mid-June the eggs hatch and pufflings remain in the burrows.
From late-May to mid-July adults make frequent trips to sea to catch sand eels and other small fish to feed the pufflings.
From late-June to late-July chicks begin fledging, meaning their wing feathers that are used for flight develop.
From late-August adult puffins begin to leave the burrows and return to sea until the following spring. Puffins take around six weeks to grow to full size.
HOW TO GET TO SKOMER ISLAND
Skomer Island is located just off the Pembrokeshire coastline and is only accessible by boat. Journeys depart from Lockley Lodge at Martin’s Haven, a small cove 12 miles southwest of Haverfordwest.
To reach Skomer Island, the only way there is by boat. To reach the launching site at Martin’s Haven, you will have to follow several single-track roads which only allow a single car to pass. There are several passing bays along these roads, but drive slowly and carefully, especially when the grass and shrubbery on the roadside becomes overgrown in the summer.
Once you reach Martin’s Haven, there is a large unsealed parking lot for pay and display parking. From there, Lockley Lodge Visitor Centre is a short two-minute walk away.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO VISIT SKOMER ISLAND
The cost for a day landing on Skomer Island varies throughout the season, ranging from £40 in April and July, £44 in May and June, and £30 in August and September.
The fee covers the boat ride and the landing fee which supports the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales to ensure they have the means to continue their research and conservation projects.
Currently, tickets must be pre-booked via the Pembrokeshire Boat Trips website. These do sell out in advance, so it is recommended to plan and purchase your tickets as soon as possible.
WHERE DOES THE BOAT LEAVE FROM TO GET TO SKOMER ISLAND?
The boat to Skomer Island departs from Lockley Lodge Visitor Centre in Martin’s Haven in Pembrokeshire. Operation of the boats to Skomer Island is dependent on weather conditions and can be cancelled at short notice due to inclement weather. You can keep up to date with whether the boats are running on Twitter.
SKOMER ISLAND FERRY TIMES
Pembrokeshire Boat Trips run a service from Martin’s Haven to Skomer Island which operate every 30 minutes, with the first sailing starting at 10am and the final departure departing at 12pm. The return journeys back to Martin’s Haven commence at 3pm, again returning every half an hour until 5pm.
Your return boat is allocated at the time of check-in according to your departure time. So, if you are on the 10am departure, you will be booked onto the 3pm return, and so on.
There are no boat services operating with for day landings on Skomer Island on Mondays.
HOW LONG DOES THE BOAT TAKE TO GET TO SKOMER ISLAND?
The boat to Skomer Island takes 15 minutes from Martin’s Haven. Once you reach the island, it takes a few minutes to disembark the boat and climb the steep steps to the briefing point. Here, you will be briefed before exploring the island at your leisure until your return boat journey in the afternoon.
HOW LONG CAN I STAY ON SKOMER ISLAND?
The day landings on Skomer Island run for five hours, with a scheduled pick up back at the cove allocated when you check-in at Lockley Lodge Visitor Centre. You must return on your scheduled departure as allocation is based on ticket sales for the maximum number of guests per journey.
ARE THERE TOILETS ON SKOMER ISLAND?
There are toilet facilities available at Martin’s Haven for public use before and after you catch the boat to/from Skomer Island. On the island, there is only one toilet available near the centre of the island in a building by the farm ruins.
They are located approximately 800m from the landing area and they are the only public toilets available on the island.
WHAT TO PACK FOR SKOMER ISLAND
Skomer Island is nature at its best, which means there are no facilities on the island such as cafes or shops. It’s the perfect excuse for a picnic lunch. You can purchase water at the dock where you land, but otherwise there’s nothing else. So pack plenty of water, lunch and snacks for the day as well as sunscreen as there’s very limited shelter from the elements.
There’s very little shade or protection from inclimate weather, so pack for all occasions including sunscreen and warm clothing - even if it doesn’t seem to match the weather when you depart in the morning.
You’ll also need to do some gentle hiking in some of the more hilly sections around the cliffs on the island, so comfortable walking shoes or runners are recommended, as well as wet weather gear in case of sudden changes in the forecast.
WHERE TO SEE THE PUFFINS ON SKOMER ISLAND
Now, the part you really came for, how to see those cute, funny little puffins on Skomer Island. There are some 39,000 puffins among the colony on Skomer as of 2022, so you won’t find it difficult to see them.
Before we even arrived on land, we saw plenty bobbing along the gentle waters between the mainland and the grassy isle. Once we’d reached the dock at Skomer, there were dozens of these charming little birds wandering the cliffs.
On the way back at the end of our day on Skomer Island, waiting at the meeting point to catch the boat back to Lockley Lodge, we also saw lots of puffins returning from sea with sand eels for their young. So, you won’t have a hard time spotting these delightful birds.
There are numerous puffin nesting sites scattered across various spots along the cliff tops, with burrows creating a honeycomb-like maze just below the surface. One of the best places to see the puffins though is at ‘The Wick’ where you’ll often see them flying out to hunt and return to the nest.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO PHOTOGRAPH THE PUFFINS ON SKOMER ISLAND?
Skomer Island is a wildlife photographer’s dream. While humans must remain on the paths set out across the island, the wildlife freely moves around, crossing right in front of you at times.
For those without a tonne of camera equipment, you’ll be pleased to know that the puffins come quite close to the paths here on Skomer Island, so you won’t necessarily need a huge zoom lens to get good shots. We have phone footage as well as using my DSLR.
If you are patient and wait in one place where they are quite active, you won’t need to be there long before they ignore you and carry on with their daily business.
If you are a photographer though, I’d recommend a 24-70mm lens for landscape shots, and a 70-200mm for wildlife shots so you can get some great focal detail. Bring spare batteries and plenty of memory cards because you won’t stop snapping!
ARE DOGS ALLOWED ON SKOMER ISLAND?
No, dogs are not permitted on Skomer Island as it is a protected habitat for wildlife, including puffins and manx shearwater. Many accommodations near Skomer Island may also not allow pets to remain at the lodging unattended, so you should check with your host or provider before booking.
CAN I SLEEP ON SKOMER ISLAND?
If you feel like one day isn’t enough or you want to explore the island before the day trippers arrive, then spending a night on Skomer Island might just be for you.
If you want to sleep on the island, you can stay at Old Farm, a cosy bolthole equipped with a communal kitchen, lounge, and log burner. Prices start from £50 per person per night. It’s important to note that sailings may be altered or cancelled due to bad weather conditions.
If you stay on the island, the Skomer Team run ‘Bird Log’ every evening where guests can share their wildlife experiences and hear from experts. Spend time watching beautiful sunsets over the sea as manx shearwater return and listen closely for their night calls.
WHAT ELSE CAN I DO ON SKOMER ISLAND?
While you might be visiting Skomer to see puffins in Wales, there is plenty of other interesting flora and fauna on the island to see. In May and June, carpets of bluebells and red campion transform the centre of the island into a sea of bright blooms. Later in the year thrift and sea campion cling to cliff edges.
The real stars of the show on the island are the myriad sea bird colonies on Skomer. Storm petrel, guillemot, and razorbill all flock to the island, it’s the size of the manx shearwater colony here that is most impressive - considered to be one of the largest in the world.
Several small mammal species also roam the island, living in its many burrows that criss-cross below the surface. You can spot the unique species of Skomer vole, as well as wood mice, rabbits, and common and pygmy shrew.
Feeling inspired? Don’t leave it too late. Book your trip to Skomer Island with Pembrokeshire Boat Trips.
