Puffin Season on Skomer
Tens of thousands of puffins breed on Skomer from April to late July, close enough to the path that you have to step around them.
- When
- April to late July, best late May to early July
- Kind
- Wildlife & nature
- Where
- Skomer Island
- Cost
- Landing tickets and boat fares are charged separately, and there is a car park charge at Martin's Haven.
Skomer is the reason a lot of people come to Pembrokeshire at all. Puffins arrive on the island in April, dig out or reclaim a burrow, raise one chick, and are gone by the end of July. The colony is one of the largest in southern Britain and the birds are completely unbothered by people — they stand on the path at The Wick with sand eels hanging out of their beaks while you take the same photograph everyone takes.
When to go. Late May to early July is the peak. In April the birds come and go from the sea and can vanish for days. By the last week of July it is over for another year, and the island is quiet.
Getting there. Boats run from Martin's Haven, at the end of the Marloes peninsula. Landing tickets are booked online in advance and sell out fast. The walk from the car park down to the boat is steep, the landing steps on the island are steeper, and there are no facilities beyond a toilet and a shelter — take food, water and waterproofs.
The honest downside. The crossing is short but Jack Sound is tidal and lumpy, and sailings are cancelled in swell or fog. Trips are called off regularly through the season. If Skomer is the point of your holiday, allow more than one possible day and treat the landing as a bonus rather than a fixture.
If the boat is off, the Marloes peninsula walk has puffins visible offshore and choughs on the clifftop. See the Skomer guide for detail.
Every year
Puffins come ashore on Skomer to breed each spring and leave for the open Atlantic in late July. Day landings run from Martin's Haven, weather permitting.
Getting in
Landing tickets are sold online in advance and the good dates go within minutes of release. Boats are cancelled outright in poor sea conditions, so keep a spare day.
Before you plan around this
Dates change every year — check with the organiser before you travel
We don't sell tickets and take no commission on any of these — links go straight to whoever runs it.
Staying nearby
Marloes is the obvious base.
Also in April
Island Boat Trip Season Opens
Skomer, Ramsey, Caldey and Grassholm all reopen to boats around Easter. Each one is a different trip and they book up differently.
from around Easter, running to late October · Wildlife & nature
Bluebell Season at Colby and Minwear
Two or three weeks in late April and May when the old woodland floors go blue. Colby and Minwear are the reliable ones.
late April into mid-May, two to three weeks · Wildlife & nature
Pembroke Castle Events Season
Living history and re-enactment weekends through the warmer months at the birthplace of Henry VII.
Easter to autumn, with events concentrated in school holidays · Community