About Islandeering
Hi and welcome to Islandeering Islandeering is for people who want adventure in Britain’s wild blue spaces – our rivers, coast, lakes, canals and islands. You will find amazing walks, paddles and swims in the UK’s most special places, those recognised for outstanding natural beauty, incredible geology or special and abundant wildlife.
More About UsWe continuously find new islands, rivers, lochs, canals and coast to walk, SUP and swim in and meet plenty of great folks along the way. Join our community to get new routes and adventures, latest blogs and news by using the email box below. Tune in also to our Facebook and Instagram pages to see where we are going next.
image: Grassholm by Poitr Tadeusz is licenced under CC BY 3.0
Key Fact
- Location: Pembrokeshire
- Size: 10.7 ha
- Terrain: rock
- Access: no landing; boat trips circumnavigate the island
- Map: OS Explorer OL36
- Departure point: Martins Haven, SA62 3BJ. What3Words bucked.inherits.tall. Grid ref. SM 7603 0913
This tiny white speck of land is around twelve kilometres from the western tip of Skomer Island; it is uninhabited other than 39,000 pairs of breeding northern gannets, the only gannet colony in Wales and third largest in the UK after St Kilda and Bass Rock. This westernmost point in Wales, which has a high point of forty-two metres, comes alive in early spring when around ten per cent of the world’s population of gannets return to the island. The air is filled with males returning with nesting materials keen to establish territory ready to attract a female. A single egg is laid in April and chicks begin to hatch in early June.
The chicks are then fed by both parents for three months until they are fully grown and ready to leave the island in late August and throughout September. It is an outstanding seabird spectacle, unrivalled anywhere in Wales for this species. Grassholm is an RSPB reserve with a strict ‘no landing’ policy, but boat trips that approach the island are available. Often porpoise and bottlenose dolphins are spotted in the seas around the island.
Grassholm Island boat trips
At Grassholm Island, is the home of a large Gannet colony, and a number of boat trips take you to one of the more remote Pembrokeshire islands for the full sensory experience of being close to these amazing birds. On the boat trips whale, dolphin and porpoise species are also often spotted. On rarer occasions orca, sunfish, basking shark and leatherback turtles have also been sighted. Multiple companies operate these trips, mostly departing from Martins Haven, Pembrokeshire.
