The headland around the St Davids Peninsula, the most westerly part of Wales, is soon to be teaming with wildlife and activity. Spring is the perfect time to be visiting Pembrokeshire, as our glorious county bursts into life turning dramatic grey cliffs into a flurry of coastal flowers and nesting sea birds.
Here is our very own Springwatch – everything you need to know and do while on your holiday on this vibrant and unique peninsula.
Flowers
We all dream of spring flowers during the dark days of winter, and Pembrokeshire doesn’t disappoint. When the first bursts of spring colour arrive along the peninsula they stand out sharply against the grey-green backdrop of cliffs and the deep brown-purple of coastal cairns.
What to look out for:
On the clifftop:
Pink thrift, blue spring squill, yellow kidney vetch, white oxtail daisies, white sea campion
In the hedgerow:
Primroses, snowdrops – especially in the woodland at Abermawr
Across the landscape:
Golden Gorse, heather and hawthorn perfuming the hillsides, and the smell of wild garlic starting to fill the air!
Birds
The pride of Pembrokeshire are the puffins, and if you take a boat trip to Ramsey island this Spring, you’re sure to see them popping up from their burrows. It’s nesting season here and if you’re very lucky, you may even see a puffling take a peek out of his cosy home. Yes, they really are called pufflings!
If you’re heading to Ramsey at dusk after mid-March, you’re likely to spot one of Pembrokeshire’s other Springwatch seafaring superstars, the Manx Shearwater. Nearby Skomer island boasts the largest breeding colony of Manx Shearwaters in the world, with around 120,000 nesting pairs taking up burrows all over the island.
What to look out for:
Coastal birds:
Kittiwakes, guillemots and razorbills call our cliffs and islands home, too, as well as the humble seagull.
Pembrokeshire National Park rangers put out red concrete pots to warn the more intrepid rock-climber of areas where climbing or walking could disturb nesting birds. Please keep an eye out for them on your Springwatch adventures! For more information about climbing and keeping chics safe, click here.
Inland birds:
Swallows and House martins arrive between March and May, filling gardens and hedgerows.
If you’re fans of the cuckoo’s call, then the best place to hear them is St Davids Airfield, an abandoned World War Two RAF Coastal base that Pembrokeshire National Park has reclaimed…as have the cuckoos!
Animals
It’s not just the landscape that has been reborn – we have some newborns, too! The lambs have just arrived and there are baby bunnies on every available hillside.
But it’s the water-dwelling mammals that prove a big hit around St Davids Head, especially as they are present almost all year round. Dolphin watching is available from St Justinians, where you can go out on boats or just watch them play in the water off Ramsey Sound.
TO BOOK YOUR DREAM COTTAGE THIS SPRING, CLICK HERE
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