Best things to do on Skomer Island

Best Things to do on Skomer Island

Nestled off the stunning Pembrokeshire coast of Wales, Skomer Island captivates with its windswept cliffs, vast seascapes, and incredible wildlife. It is a haven for nature lovers, walkers, and those wantig to get off the beaten path. Famed for its puffins and birdlife Skomer Island also has a lot more to offer. Discover walks, Iron Age remains, a city of birds and more about this enchanting sanctuary in this blog.  

Overnight wildlife spectacular

Between April and September, the stretch of coast to Skomer Head hosts the largest colony of Manx Shearwaters in the world. The birds hunt out to sea during the day, returning to the island at dusk to feed their chicks. After fledgling, the remarkable young birds migrate to the coasts of Brazil and Argentina remaining at sea for around five years before returning to breed within a few metres of the burrow in which they were born. The starry night skies are incredible here as is the peace of having this island almost to yourself.

Seashore foraging with the wardens

Normally the public don’t have access to the beaches on Skomer to minimise disturbance to wildlife, but during the summer the wardens often organise seashore foraging events on the beach at North Haven. Look under rocks on the beach to spot shore clingfish also known as Cornish lumpsuckers. Their pelvic fins have fused together to form suckers which help them to remain stuck to the rocks on exposed shores. They are also covered in a layer of mucus which keeps them hydrated when out of the water. Other species include the broad-clawed porcelain crab, by-the-wind sailors, compass jellyfish, barnacles, limpets, topshells, dog whelk, anemones, shannies, blennies and common shore crab.

Springtime bluebell walks

An island without trees doesn’t immediately jump to mind as having one of the best bluebell walks in Wales but during the springtime Skomer is covered in a display of these beautiful flowers so vast that the whole island turns violet-blue. The atypical open habitat of the island greatly enhances their visual impact, with the added bonus of being able to spot puffins, rabbits and short-eared owls at the same time.

Puffins Skomer Island

The Wick is a spectacular, deep inlet along the island’s south coast whose dramatic cliff faces are full of razorbills and guillemots. Inland from the cliffs thousands of puffins nest in the grassy banks between April and July before leaving to overwinter in the Atlantic Ocean.

Iron Age round house

The archaeology of Skomer is exceptionally well preserved. Across the island the remains of boulder-built boundaries, neat stone walls and the footings of round houses reveal how the island was extensively farmed in the Iron Age and Romano-British times. A prominent standing stone, the Harold Stone, and other megaliths on the island suggest Neolithic and early Bronze Age occupation. Of particular note is the Iron Age or Romano-British round house at The Wick, close to the main viewing point for the puffins. Visitors can walk into the footings of the round house through its well-defined doorway and imagine what life might once have been like.