Puffin ‘el! Observer newspaper suggests tourists stay on Anglesey to see puffins in Pembrokeshire

Well, they’re both islands – and they’re both in Wales.

The Observer newspaper caused much mirth online by suggesting that visitors to Skomer Island in Pembrokeshire stay the night at Beaumaris, on the Isle of Anglesey.

In an article entitled Go wild in the country: 10 of the best UK wildlife holidays the newspaper advised that “Skomer Island, off the coast of Pembrokeshire, is the perfect place to spot the Atlantic Puffins – they arrive in April to nest and are here until the end of July when their pufflings are independent”.

Advising a place to stay, they added that “the Bull in Beaumaris is a classic coaching inn with chic rooms from £121 B&B.”

Skomer Island and Beaumaris are 117 miles away from each other, as the puffin flies.

However, due to Wales’ torturous north-south roads, travellers would face a journey closer to 170 miles to get from one to the other – a four-and-a-half-hour drive. And that’s after making it back to the mainland.

The error was spotted by Meinir Pierce Jones who noted that in this case, the Observer was “not quite observant enough”.

“It’s a little far to go see the birds,” she wrote in Welsh. “Puffin ‘el!”

The Observer Magazine 26 June. Not quite observant enough…/braidd yn bell i fynd i weld adar, pwffin ‘el! pic.twitter.com/Q3DXREEKxK

— Meinir Pierce Jones (@meinirpjones) June 29, 2022

Timothy Boyle responded: “Because of the excellent N-S transport infrastructure in Cymru, this is definitely doable.”

Roger H Edwards noted that the article seemed to have chosen a location to stay “about as far apart from the birds’ location as could be found in Wales”.

The article was also published online, and remains unchanged despite the error being noted in the comments.

“The G travel team should actually visit Wales sometimes, they’d have a great time and write much better,” one user said.

“Yeah, someone needs to look at a map,” another said. “The cruise is round Anglesey, don’t know what Skomer has to do with anything.”

Scottish readers were also unimpressed with the article, which advised visiting the Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve in the Cairngorms. They are 75 miles apart.