A puffin in flight is an argument against the existence of intelligent design. The bird, the “clown of the sea,” the “sea parrot,” the small, rotund, black-and-white alcid with the striped orange-and-blue bill that looks like it was painted by a child with a particularly vivid imagination, flies with a desperation that borders on the comical: the wings beating 400 times a minute, the body tilted at an angle that seems incompatible with aerodynamics, and the landings, the feet extended, the crash into the burrow, the tumble of feathers and indignity, are a reminder that the puffin is a bird that belongs to the water, not the sky. The Pembrokeshire islands, Skomer, Skokholm, and Grassholm, a cluster of wild, uninhabited islands off the southwestern tip of Wales, are home to 35,000 puffins (on Skomer, the largest colony in southern Britain), 166,000 pairs of Manx shearwaters (on Skokholm, half the world’s population), and one of the largest gannet colonies in the world (on Grassholm, 39,000 pairs, the white guano-covered rock visible for miles). The Pembrokeshire islands are an ornithologist’s dream, and you do not need to be an ornithologist to feel the dream. Here is your guide.

Quick Facts: Pembrokeshire Islands

• Skomer, the puffin island: Skomer is the most accessible of the Pembrokeshire islands, and the puffin season (April–July, the birds arriving in April to reclaim their burrows after a winter at sea) is the essential wildlife experience in Wales. The puffins are everywhere: lining the paths (they nest in burrows, and the paths are the safest place, the burrows are underground, the puffins stand guard at the entrance, and the walkers pass inches from birds that are so habituated to the absence of predators, there are no rats, no foxes, no ground predators on Skomer, that they regard humans with the mild, incurious indifference of a Londoner on the Tube), flying in from the sea with beaks full of sand eels (the puffin can hold up to 62 small fish in its beak at once, the tongue pressing the catch against the upper mandible, the fish hanging like a silver moustache), and standing on the cliffs in the evening light, the white chests glowing, the bills the colour of a Mediterranean sunset. Boat: the Dale Princess from Martin’s Haven (15 min, ~£20 return. Book ahead, the boat takes 50 passengers and the summer weekends sell out weeks in advance. The Lockley Lodge visitor centre at Martin’s Haven manages the bookings). Landing fee: ~£12 (cash only on the island). Allow: a full day, the last boat back is at 4pm or 5pm (check the season), and the 4 hours on the island pass in what feels like 45 minutes. Essential gear: binoculars, a packed lunch (there are no facilities, a compost toilet, a small information centre, and nothing else), and waterproofs (the weather in the Irish Sea changes in minutes). More UK →
• Skokholm, the shearwater island: Skokholm is the wilder, less-visited sister of Skomer. The island is smaller, the boat is less frequent (the Dale Princess runs a limited schedule, and the island is a bird observatory, accommodation is available in the converted farm buildings, the basic rooms, the shared meals, and the experience of waking up on an island that is home to 45,000 pairs of Manx shearwaters, the population that fills the night with their call, a haunting, unearthly, cackling cry that has earned the species the Welsh name “Aderyn y Pwca,” the goblin bird. The shearwaters are silent by day (they feed at sea) and return at night, the sky dark with their wings, the ground alive with their calls. The experience of standing on Skokholm at midnight on a moonless night in June, the shearwaters returning from the sea 200 miles away, the sound rising from every burrow, every crevice, and every patch of ground on the island, is one of the most extraordinary wildlife experiences in Europe). Accommodation: ~£50–70/night, book through the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales. The boat departs from Martin’s Haven, contact the observatory for the schedule
• Grassholm, the gannet cathedral: Grassholm is a white lump of rock 6 miles off the coast, uninhabited except for the 39,000 pairs of northern gannets that form one of the largest colonies in the world. You cannot land on Grassholm (the island is too small, the birds too dense, and the guano too deep), and the boat trips, the Dale Princess, the dedicated Grassholm cruises, circle the island for an hour, the noise of the colony reaching you a mile out, the smell arriving shortly after, and the sight, the white rock, the black-tipped wings, the sky full of birds, is overwhelming. The Grassholm cruise is the essential addition to a Skomer visit. Combined ticket: the Skomer landing and the Grassholm cruise (~£50). Book through the Wildlife Trust