Pembrokeshire in May

Mid-May in Pembrokeshire: sunrise around 05:28, sunset around 21:06, giving about 15h 38m of daylight. That is around 2 hours more daylight than mid-April, and it is the evenings that gain most. Because the county sticks so far west into the Atlantic, the sun sets noticeably later here than in London — worth knowing if you are planning an evening on a west-facing beach.

Dogs: the seasonal window is open. Between 1 May and 30 September, 2 of the beaches we cover ban dogs outright — Tenby North Beach and Whitesands Bay (Porth Mawr). A further 11 are zoned: part of the beach welcomes dogs all year while another section does not, which is why "dog friendly" on its own tells you nothing. 50 are open across the whole beach whatever the month — far more than most people expect, and more than this site itself used to say.

That split comes from Pembrokeshire County Council's summer beach bans — the Public Spaces Protection Order, which is the actual law rather than a summary of it — cross-checked against a specialist beach guide for which end of each zoned beach is affected. The signs at the access points are still the authority on the day.

1 we have not been able to place either way, and we would rather say so than round them up into a number that looks more authoritative.

Arguably the best trade-off of the year: long days, thinning crowds compared with summer, and the cliffs at their best. Sea thrift and campion come out along the Coast Path, and the seabird colonies on the islands are in full noise. Half-term aside, this is a much calmer county than it will be in August.

Lifeguards. 13 of the beaches we cover are lifeguarded in season — Amroth Beach, Broad Haven, Coppet Hall, Freshwater West, Newgale Sands, Newport Sands (Traeth Mawr) and 7 more. Cover is seasonal and the RNLI sets the dates each year; we do not publish those dates because we cannot verify them from a feed, so check the RNLI listing for the beach before relying on it. Everywhere else, you are swimming unpatrolled.