Puffins On Skomer Island: When To Go and How to See Them
Skomer Island in Pembrokeshire is the most accessible major puffin colony in the UK, with around 10,000 breeding pairs of puffins (Fratercula arctica) returning each year from late April. The puffins nest in burrows along the clifftops and can be watched at remarkably close range, particularly at The Wick on the island’s western coast, where they land and take off just feet from the path.
I have visited Skomer several times now and stayed overnight, watched the Manx shearwaters come in under darkness and spent hours I could not account for sitting at The Wick with a camera. It is one of those places that earns its reputation completely. Here is everything you need to plan a visit.
Quick reference
| Best months | May–June (peak); April and July also good |
| Colony size | Approximately 10,000 breeding pairs |
| Best puffin spot | The Wick on the western cliffs |
| How to book | Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales day trip bookings open in January |
| Day trip or stay? | A day trip is excellent; overnight stay is the full experience |
| Getting there | A boat from Martin’s Haven makes crossing over Jack Sound. |
About the Atlantic puffin
The Atlantic puffin is the most charismatic seabird in Britain and, arguably, one of the most recognisable birds in the world. The combination of vivid orange bill, white face, and dark back is unmistakable, although the bill’s famous orange plates are actually shed over the winter while the bird is far out at sea and regrown in time for the breeding season.
Puffins are surprisingly small in real life. They are closer to a blackbird than a gull in size, which makes their confidence around humans on Skomer all the more disarming. They shuffle about on the clifftops with a slightly preoccupied air, arriving with their bills crammed full of sand eels, which they can carry in surprising numbers due to a backwards-pointing spine on the upper bill.
Puffins dive to depths of up to 30 metres to catch sand eels and other small fish, sometimes travelling 60 miles offshore to find a good shoal. They lay a single egg per year and return to the same burrow with the same mate each season. The pufflings leave the island on their own, heading out to sea in August under cover of darkness.
One of the more descriptive collective nouns in the natural world: a group of puffins is called a circus. Anyone who has spent time at The Wick will understand why.
Where to see puffins on Skomer Island
Puffins are present across much of Skomer during the breeding season, but the following spots give the best and most reliable encounters.
The Wick
The Wick is the standout location. It is a deep geo-cut into the western cliffs where puffins nest in large numbers along both edges. The path runs along the clifftop and puffins land and take off within a metre or two of where you are standing. Hours disappear here. The light is best in the afternoon when the sun is behind you facing west, and in the last hour before the boat home the crowds thin out considerably.
North Haven
As you climb the 87 steps from the landing stage, razorbills, guillemots and puffins line the cliffs in what feels like a noisy welcoming committee. This is your first view of the colony, but it is just the starter for the day. Puffins nest in burrows on the grassy slopes above the landing stage, which is good for early photography before the day visitors start arriving.
Garland Stone towards Bull hole
The circular island walk passes through puffin territory for much of its four miles. The ground is riddled with burrows. Make sure you look down as much as up. Puffins are encountered at close range almost anywhere along the western and southern cliffs between April and late July.
Moorey Mere hide
The hide at Moorey Mere looks out over the island’s small lakes. Less about puffins, more about gulls, kittiwakes and oystercatchers, but worth fifteen minutes on the way back to the farm, particularly for keen birders.
When to see puffins on Skomer Island
Puffins arrive at Skomer from late April and stay until mid-August, when they head back out to the open Atlantic and sub-Arctic waters. The timing within that window matters.
| Month | What to expect |
| Late April | First arrivals, good numbers but less activity. Quieter on the island. |
| May | Strong numbers. Courtship behaviour. Less crowded than June, good for photography. |
| June (peak) | Peak colony activity. Sand eel carrying, burrow maintenance, and chick-rearing. Busiest for visitors. |
| July | Good numbers continue. Activity starts to wind down mid-month. |
| Early August | The last puffins are departing. Pufflings leaving the colony at night. End of season. |
What to watch for – puffin behaviour on Skomer
Skomer rewards slow observation. The longer you stay in one spot, the more you see. Here is what to look for.
Sand eel carrying
Watching a puffin return from a fishing trip with a bill crammed full of sand eels is one of the great sights of UK wildlife. The record is over 80 fish in a single bill. The bird has to run a gauntlet of herring gulls on the way back to the burrow, which leads to some dramatic mid-air chases above The Wick.
Billing and colony socialising
Puffins are demonstrative birds on the breeding ground. Bill rubbing, which includes pressing the bills of two birds together, is a common bonding behaviour. Squabbles over burrow ownership are constant, and the birds have a habit of depositing guano down their neighbour’s burrow entrance that seems deliberate. Colony politics are endlessly watchable.
Burrow maintenance
Puffins line their burrows with plant material, feathers and whatever else they can find and continue to bring nesting material even after the egg is laid. Watching a bird arrive back with a beak full of bracken fronds, only to have it dislodged by a passing gull, or seeing a puffin delicately move a pebble is a special moment on the island.
Flight
Puffins are compact birds with narrow wings and high wing-loading, which means they have to beat their wings extremely fast (up to 400 beats per minute) to stay airborne. The resulting whirring flight is distinctive and unlike any other seabird. They take off into the wind when possible and land with a comic, feet-first skid.
Other wildlife on Skomer
While puffins are the headline act, Skomer’s cliffs are dense with razorbills and common guillemots, which are both worth watching closely to compare behaviour and nesting strategies. Grey seals are reliably present in the water around the island and often visible from the crossing. Short-eared owls hunt the clifftops at dusk and are one of the special rewards of staying overnight.
Skomer hosts one of the world’s largest Manx shearwater colonies with over 300,000 pairs. The shearwaters are absent during the day (they rest out at sea), but from dusk they return to their burrows in extraordinary numbers. The calls are unlike anything else in British wildlife: a wild, carrying wail that echoes across the island through the night. You only hear this if you stay overnight, and it is worth the stay entirely by itself.
Want to know more about puffins around the world?
Complete Guide to Puffins
This ebook includes information about the puffin colonies, where to find them and how to visit responsibly. With 120 pages of information, maps and beautiful photographs, it will help you see the puffins on your next summer adventure in the UK, Ireland, Iceland and other Atlantic coast regions.
Photographing puffins on Skomer Island
Skomer is one of the finest wildlife photography locations in the UK, and puffins are among the most rewarding subjects, as they are approachable, active, and visually striking. A few notes from my experiences are below.
Equipment and settings
A 300mm or 400mm lens is ideal for frame-filling portraits, but puffins at The Wick and North Haven are close enough that even a phone will give excellent results. Shoot in aperture priority at f/5.6–f/8 for a little depth of field. Puffin groups and birds arriving back with their bills crammed with sand eels are better with more in focus than a single bird’s portrait. Shutter speed of at least 1/2500s for birds in flight; 1/500s is enough for perched birds.
Light and timing
The Wick faces roughly west and gets beautiful afternoon light. Aim to be there from 2pm onwards. North Haven gets good light earlier in the day. For the golden hour portrait shots with warm light and a catchlight in the eye, aim to be at the Garland Stone or the Wick about 2 hours before sunset.
Getting low and being patient
The best puffin images come from getting as low as possible; an eye-level shot against a clean sky or out-of-focus sea is the goal. Sit down, stay still, and let the birds come to you. They will. Patience on Skomer is almost always rewarded.
Ethics
Never block a burrow entrance. Puffins will wait a surprisingly long time if a photographer is in their way, but this is stress on the bird during a critical breeding period. Keep a metre of clear path to every burrow entrance. Stay on the marked paths. The burrows extend well beyond the obvious colony areas, and the ground is genuinely fragile.
Visiting Skomer Island – practical guide
Booking your crossing
Tickets are booked in advance through the Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales. The booking system opens in January each year, and weekend dates for May and June sell out quickly, so book as early as you can for peak season. The boat runs Tuesday to Sunday and on bank holiday Mondays. Day trips do not run on Mondays.
The boat departs from Martin’s Haven on the Pembrokeshire coast, about a 20-minute drive west of Haverfordwest. Parking for day trippers is at the cliff-top car park at Lockley Lodge, Martin’s Haven. If you are staying overnight, park at West Hook Farm on the lane above and walk down. It is a short but steep walk.
Getting across to Skomer Island is weather-dependent. It may seem like a lovely day, but the direction of the wind can make landing unsafe. From personal experience, I would always suggest you book 2 or 3 days on the boat. This means that there is a higher chance of getting across to the island. If the weather is good, you get more days with the puffins, and if it is bad, you get your money refunded and have a day to explore around Pembrokeshire.
The crossing
The crossing is about a mile across Jack Sound, which is a tidal race that can be rough even on calm days. Most people find it fine; if you are prone to seasickness, take precautions. Keep your camera to hand on the crossing: seals are common in the water, dolphins sometimes accompany the boat, and the seabird numbers build steadily as the island approaches.
On the island
Day visitors land at North Haven and are met by a warden who runs a short briefing at the top of the 87 steps. Even on repeat visits, you need to attend this as there is usually something new, and it sets the tone for the island’s conservation approach.
The island circuit is approximately four miles. It undulates considerably, more than the map suggests, and there is no shelter from rain beyond the Old Farm building. Bring waterproofs, good boots, all your food and water, and a fully charged camera battery. There is nowhere to buy anything on the island.
Maximum day visitor numbers are 250 per day. This sounds like a lot, but the island absorbs them well; The Wick is the only point where it ever feels genuinely busy.
Staying overnight
Staying on Skomer is a different experience entirely. The hostel sleeps 16 and is basic but warm with bunk beds, a shared kitchen, and a shared bathroom. You bring everything and take everything home. The crossing for overnight guests is earlier than for the day boats, which means you have the island to yourself in the morning.
The real reason to stay: the Manx shearwaters, the short-eared owls at dusk, the dark skies, and the puffins at dawn in golden light with nobody else there. A Sunday night stay gives you the entire Monday on the island alone, as there are no day visitors and no boats.
Overnight accommodation is booked separately through the Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales and is in high demand. You check availability in October when the booking opens.
What else is nearby
Skomer sits at the heart of one of the best puffin regions in the UK. If you are making a trip to Pembrokeshire, these places are worth adding:
- Skokholm Island: The neighbouring island to the south, less visited than Skomer, with dramatic red sandstone cliffs and a smaller but excellent puffin colony. Overnight stays only.
- Skomer Marine Nature Reserve: The waters around both islands are protected; grey seals, porpoises and dolphins are regularly seen from the boat or the shore.
- Pembrokeshire Coast National Park: The coastline in both directions from Martin’s Haven is outstanding walking country, with coastal wildflowers, choughs and fulmars on the clifftops.
Further afield within the UK puffin network, the Farne Islands in Northumberland and Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire are the other standout mainland-accessible puffin destinations.
