Wildlife in Wales, A Calendar View
Experience a wealth of nature in the beautiful landscapes of Pembrokeshire
Discover a nirvana of Pembrokeshire wildlife on both land and sea with fascinating natural habitats and countless species of birds, water creatures, insects and land animals.
Nature in Pembrokeshire is omnipresent, it’s everywhere you look with more hiding in the places you aren’t looking. The wildlife here is vast and varied, so when people ask us when the best time to visit for wildlife is, it’s a tough question to answer.
Our Wales landscapes provide the perfect sights for wildlife watching with undulating hills, intricate networks of trails and a jagged coastline of breathtaking beaches and fascinating geographical landmarks.
If you’re passionate about nature, we hope that this calendar overview of Pembrokeshire wildlife will provide some information on what you can see and where. See the wildlife in spring when the hedgerows are blooming with colour and the birds are returning to the coast, or travel in the height of summer for an exhilarating boat trip to go whale watching in Wales.
If you’re familiar with our articles, you’ll likely know by now that we’re strong advocates that to truly understand the landscape here, you need to experience the area in all four seasons. To get a true “bird's eye” overview of wildlife in Wales, you need to explore all year. Check out our other articles for further inspiration on Pembrokeshire wildlife and how you can discover more during your stay.
Did you hear about our visit from Wally the Walrus in 2021?
Wales wildlife to see all year round
A quick glimpse at nature you’ll spot all year round includes Welsh animals like kingfishers, otters, mallards and moorhens, oystercatchers and cormorants. A good place to see kingfishers, moorhens and mallards is at Bosherston Lily Ponds, while cormorants and otters can be found along the Cleddau estuary.
Oystercatchers can be found along the coast in places like the River Teifi. You can also go seal watching in Pembrokeshire at any time of the year, as there are some 5000 resident in these Welsh waters though late summer is when sightings really peak.
Winter wildlife in Pembrokeshire
January and December are all about gorse and primrose; gorse is seen throughout the year, but it’s important to remember there are different types. European gorse starts to bloom in the first month of the year, whilst Western gorse starts to die off in the last.
February is when gannets begin nesting at their colony on Grassholm Island, and kittiwakes return to the land to breed, whilst March is famously known for vibrant yellow daffodils erupting across the hedgerows and fields. The third month of the year is also when you’ll start to see snowdrops blossom and seals take to the coastline to moult their winter coasts.
Choughs are an example of a rare bird species resident in Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire's nature in Spring
Swallows and house martins are often seen flitting through the skies in this month and the next, with puffins also returning to the region of Skomer Island in late April. Read all about our day out at Skomer Island for more details on this important breeding ground or book a Skomer Island boat trip to land on the island and see these comical creatures for yourself.
Peregrine falcons begin their mating rituals, daisy flowers in the gardens and bluebells start to bloom, though they really come into their own in May.
May and June see the scenes of Pembrokeshire awash with fresh new colour; picture thrift and pink campions, foxgloves and knapweed painting the land. Bosherston’s popular Lily Ponds come into full bloom in June, whilst basking sharks swim the shores and guillemots start to hatch - head to the Elegug Stacks for these latter birds. This month of the year is a busy one, it’s peak puffin-spotting season and the climax of porpoise breeding.
How to see puffins in Pembrokeshire
Ask anyone about wildlife holidays in Pembrokeshire and it won’t be long before someone mentions the famous puffins. Make your way to Martins Haven Beach on the west coast of Pembrokeshire for a boat trip to Skomer Island with Pembrokeshire Islands and get your chance to see the remarkable colony of puffins in Pembrokeshire during their breeding season.
Make sure to book your Skomer Island boat trip well in advance if you hope to land on the island, because it’s one of the most popular activities in the region. If you do manage to land on the island, you can enjoy a self-guided tour through the bluebells and puffin-inhabited landscape where these comical birds will get astonishingly close to you as they dip and dive around the burrows.
Fear not if you miss out on landing on the island, there are plenty of puffin safari boat trips that will circle Skomer and sometimes Skokholm so you can see these birds in flight as they search for food. For instance, check out the Puffin Safari boat tour that is available directly through our Concierge team; this one departs from St Justinians near St Davids.
A Skomer Island puffin
Summer wildlife in Wales
In both July and August, catch many sightings of the new class of gannets. These summer months are also a great time of year to still see puffins, kittiwakes, basking sharks and foxgloves as well as rarer birds like chough in the Marloes peninsula.
Cardigan Bay Dolphin Watching
The best time of year to go dolphin watching in Cardigan Bay is during the summer months, when you’ll find them closer to the shores. Though they are active all year round, they spend more time offshore during the winter months, which lowers your chances of being able to spot them from land.
During the summer months, you can stroll the Pembrokeshire Coast Path to try and sight them from the mainland, or you can hop aboard one of the many dolphin-spotting boat trips that run throughout the season.
Experts say that sunrise and sunset provide two of the highest chances to spot dolphins. In Pembrokeshire, you should venture to the north for Cardigan Bay dolphin watching as there’s a particularly active pod of bottlenose dolphins. Take a dolphin boat trip from Cardigan with A Bay to Remember and you might even see other Welsh animals such as porpoises, basking sharks and more.
Nature in Pembrokeshire in Autumn
September through to the end of October is when Heather takes over the landscape and Manx shearwater fledglings emerge. November is the month for starlings and their displays are something special here. Top locations to sightsee these orchestras of blackbirds take to the sky include Plumstone Mountain near Camrose, the Preseli Hills, Slebech and the Minwear Woods.
Seal Watching in Pembrokeshire
As mentioned above, while you may be able to spot seals all year round, sightings are much more frequent during September. This is the month when the Pembrokeshire coastline becomes a haven for Atlantic Grey Seals and their newborn pups; the babies dot the shorelines in their fluffy white fur whilst the parents fish for food until the younger generation are ready to swim.
Ramsey Island, arguably one of the most beautiful places in Wales, is a well-known haunt for seals during this time, with between 500 and 700 seal pups being born here each year.
Seal pup in Pembrokeshire
Spot Pembrokeshire wild life from your holiday cottage
Our Pembrokeshire holiday cottages make the perfect base for a wildlife discovery with the teeming coastline always just moments away. Stay in one of our sea view holiday cottages where you might be lucky enough to spot a rare seabird flying overhead or choose one of our holiday homes on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path to enjoy morning walks overlooking porpoises as they swim beneath you.
There really is a wealth of nature and wildlife to be found across the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, so make sure to check out our wildlife boat trips and our blogs for more nature inspiration.
Important reminder when watching wildlife in Wales
It is always recommended to watch wildlife and Welsh animals from a safe distance. This is not just for your own safety, but for the safety of the animals too. Bring along binoculars to allow you great viewing from a further distance and keep off any beaches where you see seal pups. It is also particularly important to keep your dogs on leads - even the best-behaved dogs can be spooked - and keep them firmly away from any wildlife discovered.
Coastal Cottages Holiday Cottages in West Wales
Our West Wales holiday cottages are each perfectly placed for exploring the magnificent Pembrokeshire Coast with its beautiful beaches, intricate Coast Path and array of attractions. Browse our holiday rentals in West Wales to stay in Pembrokeshire or set your sights on the neighbouring counties of Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion.
