Tag: Skomer

A – Z of Locations: S is for St Bride’s Bay

During this year I shall be posting photographs from places around the UK, many of which have not been published before. Where I have previously blogged about a location I will provide a link to the post, though you won’t be able to comment on it as I restrict comments to six months.

S is for St Bride’s Bay and Skomer and Skokholm Islands

Another one from Wales, this time in Pembrokeshire.

Lying in the Celtic Sea two miles off the southwest Pembrokeshire coast, Skokholm has its own charm and sense of remoteness with tall, sandstone cliffs and a wild landscape

In the warmer months Skokholm is colonised by tens of thousands of nesting seabirds. By day there is frenetic activity among the puffins, razorbills, guillemots and gulls – and by night there is more commotion from the Manx shearwaters and storm petrels! (Source: Welsh Wildlife Trust)

Skomer Island is less than a mile off the beautiful Pembrokeshire coast.

Between April and July, Skomer is well known for its puffins, but there is so much more to this National Nature Reserve – including Manx shearwaters, dolphins, seals, razorbills, and so much more! You can visit for just a day  or even stay overnight in a hostel. (Source: Welsh Wildlife Trust)

Incredible views from the top of Wooltack Point

Our visit was on the last day of our family Christmas holiday in Wales in 2011. We stayed in a former pub near Rosebush and well remembered for being absolutely freezing cold all week with rain and/or fog every day bar this one! Whilst the children and grandchildren went off to visit Pembroke Castle, the OH and I decided to have a little road trip around the Pembrokeshire coast first to Fishguard then on to St David’s (the smallest city in Wales) before following the coast down to Marloes and St Brides.

Wild white-capped waves

We parked at Martin’s Haven close to the Deer Park for a walk and to get a glimpse of the islands. Although it was a dry and sunny day the wind was fierce so it was a very quick walk.

The car park at Martin’s haven (the end of the road)

From here we returned to Marloes for some lunch and then a quick drive to Dale which is on the Milford Haven Waterway, an estuary forming a natural harbour that has been used as a port since the Middle Ages, before dashing back north to catch the sunset at the Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber in the Preseli Hills.

If you haven’t already visited Pembrokeshire then I recommend that you do. It has an amazing landscape with towering cliffs, pristine beaches, rolling moorlands rich with wildlife and history, beautiful coastal towns like Tenby (equivalent to Cornwall’s St Ives) and Britain’s smallest city, St Davids with its Cathedral and the ruin of The Bishops Palace.