South Wales, Wales
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Shearwater Island
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300
XP
1 day
Skomer: Half the World's Manx Shearwaters
300 XP
Skomer, off the Pembrokeshire coast, holds around half the world's population of Manx shearwaters, the largest Atlantic puffin colony in southern Britain, and the Skomer vole, which is found nowhere else. The boat goes from Martin's Haven when the sea allows, and much of the island is a scheduled ancient monument of Iron Age fields and hut circles. The shearwaters come and go from their burrows only at night, so day visitors see the burrows rather than the birds; the puffins are gone by the end of July.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Take the boat from Martin's Haven and land at North Haven
2
of 4
Walk the island circuit past the puffin burrows
3
of 4
Find the Iron Age field banks and hut circles
4
of 4
Look for the Skomer vole, found nowhere else on earth
Take the boat from Martin's Haven and land at North Haven
Walk the island circuit past the puffin burrows
Find the Iron Age field banks and hut circles
Look for the Skomer vole, found nowhere else on earth
Before you go
Day boats land from April to September, and the puffins are on the island until the end of July.
Landings depend on the weather and boats are often cancelled; there is no shop or café on the island, so bring all your food and water. Boats run from April to September and not on Mondays, except the Whitsun bank holiday.
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XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
300 XP
Potential total
300 XP
Stop 2 of 5 · Marloes and Skomer
6 nights · 9 things to do · Wales, South Wales
Six nights in a loop from Fishguard round Pembrokeshire: St Davids and the Blue Lagoon, puffins on Skomer, St Govan's Chapel and Tenby's walls, then Pentre Ifan and the Teifi coracles.
Stop 2 of 4 · Marloes and Skomer
9 nights · 11 things to do · Wales, South Wales
Nine nights on the Pembrokeshire coast from Tenby to Cardigan: Caldey's monks and St Govan's cliff chapel, Skomer's puffins and shearwaters, the coast path from St Davids to Solva, and the Neolithic dolmen at Pentre Ifan.
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