Did you know that dolphins can actually shed their skin every two hours to help streamline their bodies!
As you know we have been closely monitoring the Coronavirus guidelines issued by the Welsh Government since March 2020.
There are many considerations for us when we think about our precious islands, including visitor boat transportation, the difficulty in maintaining social distancing whilst boarding passengers and the provision of facilities once on the islands themselves.
After much discussion and consideration, The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales (WTSWW) Board of Trustees has reluctantly decided that:
1. Overnight accommodation on Skomer or Skokholm Islands will remain closed for the remainder of the 2020 season.
2. Day visits to Skomer Island cannot resume at the moment, but we will keep this situation under review as further guidance is issued by the Welsh Government.
This has been a very difficult decision and we know it will be a great disappointment to our guests but the safety of our island staff, Dale Sailing boat staff, our visitors and our local community remains our key priority.
We would like to thank everyone for keeping in touch with our Islands via social media, the Skokholm Blog and Skomer LIVE and those who have donated to our Islands emergency appeals.
Whilst we have never transferred bookings from one year to the next we have decided that this is an appropriate course of action in this unprecedented situation. Bookings will be offered for the same period in the same month next year. So if you have a reservation between April and July your booking would remain for the same period next year. Transferring bookings to different dates next year is complex and we must wait for all 2020 guests to exercise their options before considering this. The island bookings team consist of just one individual at present so please consider this when waiting for an email response.
If you would rather have monies returned this will be completed when our teams return to work as we cannot perform this whilst working from home, we do appreciate your patience with this matter.
This is clearly an unprecedented time for the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales. Skomer and Skokholm provide much of the income that the Trust needs to ensure that these two islands and over 100 other nature reserves can be managed effectively for wildlife. This loss of income for one year will have a catastrophic impact on our ability to look after our wildlife and nature reserves. We really do hope that we will be in a position to ensure that Skomer and Skokholm do open again to the public later this year; however, funds will be required to ensure that this is able to happen.
Please consider donating some or all of your booking fees to help the islands.
You can let us know your wishes by emailing us at islands@welshwildlife.org
Please follow our social media channels and visit our website for future updates.
Thank you