Seal and seabird island in Ramsey Sound.
Boats for Ramsey, known in Welsh as Ynys Dewi, leave from St Justinian’s, a harbour on the Pembrokeshire Coast named for the sixth-century hermit killed by his own followers on the island; the ruined St Justinian’s Chapel nearby marks the same story. Ramsey has belonged to the RSPB since 1992, its cliffs rising to 120 metres, among the highest in Wales, with red-billed choughs feeding on short turf kept down by a flock of Welsh mountain sheep. Between the island and the mainland, Ramsey Sound is a fast tidal channel, its Bitches reef a well-known white-water venue for sea kayakers. Grey seals use the island’s coves for the most important pupping colony in southern Britain, with over 400 born most autumns. Landing boats run from April to October with Thousand Islands Expeditions from St Justinian’s, near St Davids, Britain’s smallest city; shorter trips circle the island without landing.
