Where to See Seals in Pembrokeshire (and When)

Pembrokeshire holds one of the largest grey seal colonies in southern Britain. They're here all year, hauled out on rocks and bobbing off the headlands, but the reason to plan a trip around them is pupping season. Grey seals breed here from August to December, and September and October are the busiest months.

A newborn pup is white, fat and completely helpless. It feeds from its mother on the beach for about three weeks, then moults its white coat and becomes independent, working out the sea by itself. During those three weeks a disturbed mother may abandon her pup, which is why almost all of the advice below is about keeping your distance.

When to go, honestly

• September and October are the months to plan around. That is when there are most pups on the beaches.
• Early November can still catch the tail of the season, with fewer and older pups.
• By Christmas the pups have essentially gone. A December or New Year trip will find adult seals, not white pups.
• Winter and early spring are when the adults moult, and you will often see them hauled out on rocks and beaches then.

The rule that matters

Grey seals are protected, and disturbing them is an offence. In practice:

• Stay on the Coast Path and watch from above. Never go down onto a beach where there are pups. If a seal is looking at you, you're too close.
• Take binoculars. They let you see everything from the path, with no need to get closer.
• Keep well back from the water's edge: at least 20 metres, and preferably 50 metres. Seals on the beach bolt for the sea when they feel cut off from it.
• Keep the noise down. Voices carry up and down cliffs, and a startled colony moves.
• No dogs anywhere near a seal beach. This is the big one — a dog on a pupping beach can clear it.
• No drones. They cause stampedes into the water, and pups get crushed.
• A lone pup on a beach usually means its mother is in the water nearby, watching. It has not been abandoned. Don't touch it, don't push it into the sea, and if it's clearly injured or entangled ring the BDMLR or the Wildlife Trust rather than intervening.

The best places to look

Ramsey Island and the Sound

Ramsey, off St Davids Head, is the largest grey seal pupping site in southern Britain, with 500 to 700 pups born there each year on beaches that can't be reached on foot. The RSPB run landings and there are boat trips around the island from St Justinian's. The tide race in Ramsey Sound is fierce and the boats are weather-dependent; book, then expect to be flexible.

Martin's Haven and the Deer Park

Martin's Haven is where the Skomer boats leave from, and the walk out onto the Deer Park above it gives you cliff-top views down into coves that fill with seals in autumn. The Marloes Peninsula circular takes in the best of it.

Cemaes Head

The headland at the mouth of the Teifi, north of Poppit Sands, is one of the best-known places in the county to look down on seals, and the northern end of the Coast Path starts beside it. The Poppit Sands to Ceibwr Bay stage runs along the cliffs above.

Ceibwr Bay and the Witches' Cauldron

Ceibwr, on the wild north coast near Moylegrove, has small pupping beaches below the cliffs and very few people looking at them. The Ceibwr to Newport stage of the Coast Path runs above them.

Strumble Head

The headland west of Fishguard is a seawatching site of national standing — seals, porpoise, and in autumn the seabird passage. There's a lighthouse, a car park and an old observation hut. The Fishguard to Pwll Deri stage goes past it.

Abereiddi and Traeth Llyfn

Seals use the coves along this stretch, and the cliff path between Abereiddi and Porthgain looks straight down into several of them. An easy walk with a good chance of a sighting from September onwards.

Skomer, Skokholm and Grassholm

The islands hold significant colonies. Skomer is the accessible one; Skokholm and Grassholm are not casual day trips. Boat trips that circle rather than land will usually find seals whatever the season.

Boat or cliff top?

Cliff top is free, works on any day the weather allows a walk, and is genuinely the better view during pupping — you're looking down into the coves the seals actually use.

Boats get you closer to hauled-out groups and combine seals with seabirds and the tide races. They're also cancelled a lot; the boat trips guide covers which operator does what and when to book.

Take binoculars either way. Almost everyone regrets not having them.

While you're there

Autumn is arguably the best time to be in Pembrokeshire full stop — the water is at its warmest, the crowds have gone, and the dog restrictions on most beaches lift on 1 October. Pembrokeshire month by month makes the case; dog-friendly beaches covers the ones that never restricted them in the first place.