There are few places in the UK that truly stop you in your tracks, but Skomer Island is one of them. If you are a wildlife photography enthusiast, this volcanic island off the coast of Pembrokeshire is nothing short of spectacular.
If you are planning your own visit to capture its incredible wildlife, here is everything you need to know about getting there, what to expect, and how to get those bucket-list puffin photographs.
Getting There: The Journey to Martin’s Haven
Before you can step foot onto the island, you have to navigate getting to Pembrokeshire. The journey begins at the Lockley House car park (often referred to as the Martin’s Haven car park).
- Parking: The car park is managed by the National Trust. If you are a National Trust member, parking is completely free. Non-members will need to pay via the on-site machine.
Top tip: the parking machine only accepts coins. If you don’t have loose change, make sure to download the parking app ahead of time to pay digitally, as signal can be notoriously unreliable on the coast.
- The roads: driving down to Martin’s Haven requires a bit of patience. The country lanes are extremely narrow. Be incredibly vigilant for oncoming traffic, and be prepared to reverse into passing places to let other vehicles through.
Martin’s Haven sits at the gateway to some genuinely important seabird islands, and it shows - biosecurity noticeboards remind every visitor to check their bags and boots for stowaway rats, mice, and other non-native predators before boarding.
Once safely parked, head down to the Skomer gift shop to check in for your boat trip.
Checking In & Boarding the Boat
At the gift shop, you’ll be issued a colour-coded ticket based on your specific departure time. For example, my slot was at 11:00 AM, so I was handed an orange ticket.
Important: keep this ticket safe. You will need it to board the boat to the island, and you must present it again when leaving Skomer. It acts as your return pass.
Inside the Gift Shop
The shop is surprisingly affordable and not at all overpriced. It stocks an excellent range of souvenirs, toys, and hot refreshments. I highly recommend picking up the official Skomer Island guide book for just £3. It provides a fantastic breakdown of the island’s unique ecosystems and wildlife. Best of all, all proceeds go directly back into supporting Skomer Island and its ongoing conservation work.
The Pre-Boarding Wait
You are required to arrive one hour before your departure time (so 10:00 AM for my 11:00 AM boat). While an hour feels like a long time to wait, the surrounding sea-front is beautiful. You can walk along the pebble-stone shore for open sea views and snap a few coastal landscape shots while you wait.
The route in short: car park → gift shop check-in → an hour’s wait on the sea-front → boarding the boat.
The crossing itself is short - roughly 10 to 15 minutes - but because the boats have no shelter, you will feel every bit of the elements. If the sea is rough, it can be a bumpy, spray-filled ride. Always pack a waterproof jacket and a warm hat, just to be on the safe side.
Welcome to Skomer: The Golden Rules
Stepping off the boat, there are 87 steep steps in total to climb from the landing stage to the top of the island. It sounds like a lot, but it’s a genuinely easy climb, and you are free to stop at any point.
At the summit, you will be greeted by friendly volunteers who deliver a mandatory five-minute briefing. This session covers the crucial rules of the island:
- Stay on the designated pathways at all times. This is the golden rule. Countless animals, including puffins and Manx shearwaters, burrow directly into the ground right next to the tracks. Stepping off the path can easily collapse a burrow, crushing eggs or nesting birds.
- Take all your litter home. There are no bins on the island, so everything you unpack must leave with you.
Navigating the Island
Skomer is roughly 3 miles long and 2 miles wide, with a well-maintained loop trail that skirts the edges of the cliffs. Signposts at the main junctions point the way to the island’s key landmarks.
Right in the centre of the island sits The Farm. This area serves as a hostel for overnight researchers and visitors, and it features the island’s only unisex compost toilets - four cubicles in total. If you need a comfort break during your loop, this is where you need to head.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Island dimensions | 3 miles long × 2 miles wide |
| Central hub | The Farm (hostel & compost toilets) |
| The terrain | Coastal paths, 87-step entrance climb |
Photography Focus: The Puffin Spectacular
While there is an abundance of wildlife to see across the island loop, the ultimate destination for photographers is The Wick. This dramatic cliffside drop is where the magic happens.
Photographing at The Wick
The Wick is the primary nesting site for the island’s puffins. You will witness hundreds of these colourful characters constantly flying back from the ocean, their beaks tightly packed with sand eels. Once they land, they make a mad, comical dash across the grass straight into their underground burrows to feed their “pufflins”.
This frantic dash from ocean, to inbound flight, to the final sprint across the grass is born out of survival. Great black-backed gulls and lesser black-backed gulls patrol the skies and walkways, actively trying to bully and steal the catch straight out of the puffins’ mouths.
Because my absolute priority for this trip was puffin photography rather than general hiking, I spent the vast majority of my day stationed right here at The Wick. The puffins are incredibly habituated to human presence, meaning you can get remarkably close to the path edges. This allowed me to capture a massive variety of compositions:
- Tight, detailed portraits using a telephoto lens.
- Environment shots showing the puffins against the dramatic Welsh coastline.
- Action shots capturing the frantic, high-speed inbound flights.
Continuing the Loop: High Mountain
After a long session at The Wick, I continued walking clockwise around the island towards High Mountain. This is another spectacular vantage point where you can photograph puffins sitting directly on the lush green grass rather than the bare rock edges, offering a completely different aesthetic to your portfolio. You will also get a brilliant view of kittiwakes, guillemots, and razorbills nesting precariously on the sheer cliff faces below.
A Thriving, Untamed Ecosystem
Beyond the puffins, what struck me most about Skomer was just how incredibly healthy the entire ecosystem felt. Every bird and animal I encountered - from the wild rabbits scampering across the fields to the majestic ravens and oystercatchers patrolling the shores - looked robust, well-fed, and full of life.
Skomer is a shining example of what happens when human intervention is kept to an absolute minimum. While puffin populations are sadly declining globally, Skomer’s numbers continue to rise year-on-year. Seeing them thrive in such an organic, protected space is nothing short of inspiring.
One Last Photo Opportunity
As your day comes to a close and you head back down the stairs to the boat landing stage, don’t pack your camera gear away just yet.
The waters right by the boarding area are a massive staging point for puffins resting on the sea. From the shore, you will see hundreds of birds flying low across the water and circling back in from the open ocean. If you want to practice your birds-in-flight (BIF) photography tracking skills, this final waiting area is arguably the best spot on the entire island to do it.
Skomer Island is, without a doubt, one of the greatest wildlife photography experiences available in the UK. I left the island with full memory cards, a wind-swept face, and the absolute certainty that I will be booking a return trip as soon as next season rolls around.
Have you ever photographed at Skomer Island, or is it still sitting firmly at the top of your photography bucket list? Let me know in the comments below.
