Anglesey has an island literally called Puffin Island, so it surprises a lot of visitors to learn that the one reliable place to see puffins on Ynys Môn is somewhere else entirely. If you want to actually watch a puffin — that small, comic, orange-billed auk whirring in from the sea with a beak full of sandeels — this is where to go and when.
The honest truth about Puffin Island
Puffin Island (Ynys Seiriol), off Penmon, no longer has a breeding puffin colony worth the name. Brown rats reached the island and devastated the ground-nesting birds over the 20th century. The rats have since been eradicated in a conservation programme, and the hope is that puffins will slowly return — but recolonisation is gradual, and you should not expect to see puffins there.
That doesn’t make a Puffin Island boat trip from Beaumaris a waste — far from it. The island holds large colonies of cormorants and shags, razorbills, guillemots, and kittiwakes, and grey seals haul out around its base. It’s an excellent wildlife trip. Just don’t book it expecting puffins.
South Stack: where the puffins actually are
For puffins, you want South Stack RSPB Reserve on Holy Island (Ynys Gybi), on the far western tip near Holyhead (Caergybi). The sea cliffs here hold one of North Wales’s most important seabird breeding sites, and puffins nest in burrows and crevices along the rock face.
- Best months: mid-April to mid-July. The birds come ashore to breed in spring and have usually left for the open sea by late July.
- Best viewpoint: Ellin’s Tower, the small white RSPB seabird centre perched on the clifftop, where staff often have telescopes trained on the colony. Bring binoculars — the puffins share the cliffs with thousands of guillemots and razorbills, and the puffins are the smaller, rounder birds tucked into the grassy ledges.
- Time of day: early morning and evening tend to be busiest for bird activity. Calm, clear days are far better than windy ones.
The South Stack Lighthouse sits just offshore, reached by 400 steps down the cliff. The walk down is worth it for the seabird wall of noise alone, but you don’t need to descend to see puffins — the clifftop path and Ellin’s Tower give the best vantage.
Other seabirds and wildlife to look for
While you’re on the cliffs at South Stack, scan for:
- Choughs — the rare red-billed crow that’s something of an Anglesey emblem, tumbling along the cliff edges.
- Razorbills and guillemots packed onto every ledge in their thousands.
- Peregrine falcons hunting the colony.
- Grey seals in the water below.
Over at Cemlyn Bay on the north coast, the shingle lagoon hosts one of the UK’s largest Sandwich tern colonies from May to July — a completely different but equally good seabird day out.
Planning your visit
South Stack has a pay-and-display car park, a café, and the Ellin’s Tower centre (usually open spring and summer). It’s about a 10-minute drive from Holyhead. Pair it with the Holyhead Mountain walk for a half-day on Holy Island, or build it into a wildlife-focused trip alongside the Cemlyn Bay walk.
Come between April and July, bring binoculars, pick a calm day, and head for South Stack — not Puffin Island — and Anglesey will deliver its puffins.