Wildlife Watching on Anglesey: Seabirds, Seals and Red Squirrels

The grey seal surfaces twenty metres from shore, eyeing you with the unblinking curiosity of a creature entirely at home. Behind you, oystercatchers pipe their alarm calls across the mudflats. Somewhere in the pines, a red squirrel is burying hazelnuts it will forget by winter. This is Anglesey on any given morning — an island where wildlife encounters aren’t reserved for specialists with telephoto lenses. They happen to anyone willing to walk quietly and look carefully.

Seabirds: South Stack and Cemlyn Bay

The headline act runs from April through July at South Stack RSPB Reserve on Holy Island. This is where Anglesey’s puffins breed — not, as many visitors assume, on Puffin Island (Ynys Seiriol) off the east coast, where brown rats wiped out the colony decades ago. The rats have since been eradicated, but the puffins haven’t returned.

At South Stack, the RSPB’s Ellin’s Tower provides a sheltered vantage point with powerful telescopes trained on the breeding ledges. Puffins nest in burrows on the clifftops, waddling in with beaks crammed full of sand eels. The best viewing window is late April through mid-July, ideally on calm mornings when the birds are actively fishing. By August, they’ve dispersed back to open ocean for the winter.

South Stack’s cliffs also host guillemots, razorbills, fulmars, and choughs — the red-billed corvid that’s become something of a Welsh mascot. The 400 steps down to the lighthouse are worth the descent for the sound alone: a cacophony of seabird calls bouncing off the rock faces.

For a different seabird experience, head to Cemlyn Bay on the north coast. This shingle lagoon holds one of Britain’s largest Sandwich tern colonies, with Arctic and common terns also breeding. The RSPB and North Wales Wildlife Trust manage the reserve. Visit May through July, keep to the permissive path along the shingle ridge, and bring binoculars — the terns nest on islands in the lagoon and the colony is sensitive to disturbance. On a good June afternoon, the air above the lagoon shimmers with hundreds of plunge-diving terns.

Grey Seals: Llanddwyn and the Eastern Approaches

Anglesey’s grey seal population doesn’t migrate. They’re here year-round, hauled out on rocky outcrops and bobbing in the shallows. The largest concentrations cluster around Llanddwyn Island (accessible on foot from Newborough Beach at low tide) and the waters off Penmon Point near Puffin Island.

At Llanddwyn, seals often rest on the rocks below Tŵr Mawr lighthouse or swim in the channel between the island and the Llŷn Peninsula. Walk out along the island’s spine, find a quiet spot above the western coves, and wait. Patience outperforms pursuit — a seal that notices you will simply swim away, but one that doesn’t will carry on with its business in full view.

For closer encounters, boat trips from Beaumaris Pier run wildlife-focused circuits around Puffin Island. Seacoast Safaris and Anglesey Boat Trips both offer RIB excursions that bring you within metres of hauled-out seals without disturbing them. The boat skippers know the regular haul-out sites and time trips accordingly.

Pupping season runs from September through November. The white-coated pups stay on land for their first few weeks, nursed by their mothers before being abandoned to figure out swimming on their own. The beaches around Llanddwyn and the rocky coves near Rhoscolyn on Holy Island are favoured pupping sites — give them a wide berth during this period.

Red Squirrels: Newborough Forest

Anglesey is one of the last strongholds for Britain’s native red squirrel, which has been pushed out of most of England and Wales by competition from introduced greys. The island’s relative isolation and active grey squirrel control programme have kept the reds thriving.

Newborough Forest (Coedwig Niwbwrch) offers the most reliable sightings. Park at the main Newborough Beach car park and walk the forest trails rather than heading straight for the sand. Early mornings work best — the squirrels are most active in the first hours after dawn, foraging in the Corsican pines for cones and cached nuts.

Look for movement in the canopy rather than on the ground. Reds spend far more time in the trees than greys, and their ear tufts (prominent in winter) make them unmistakable once spotted. The stretch of forest between the main car park and the Llanddwyn causeway is particularly productive.

Elsewhere on the island, red squirrels have been spotted in the gardens around Menai Bridge and in smaller woodlands across the south. But Newborough remains the safest bet for a guaranteed sighting if you’re willing to walk quietly and scan upward.

Practical Tips for Wildlife Watching

What to bring: Binoculars make an enormous difference — 8x42 is a good all-purpose specification. A camera with a zoom lens helps, but don’t let photography override the experience. Layers, because Anglesey’s coastal wind cuts through thin jackets even in summer.

Best times: Early morning universally. Seabirds are most active mid-morning; seals haul out on falling tides; squirrels forage in the first two hours after sunrise.

Guided options: The RSPB runs guided walks at South Stack during breeding season — check their events calendar. For boat-based wildlife tours, book at least a day ahead in peak summer.

Etiquette: Keep your distance. Seals that enter the water have been disturbed. Terns that mob-dive you are defending nests — retreat. A quiet, stationary observer sees more than one crashing through the undergrowth.

Anglesey’s wildlife doesn’t require a pilgrimage or a permit. It requires showing up at the right time, staying quiet, and remembering that you’re the visitor in someone else’s territory.