Carreg yr Halen
Island Passport
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Tidal island. Stamps are never worth a risky crossing. Check official safe crossing times and local signs before walking out.
Carreg yr Halen is a small tidal island in the Menai Strait, its centre lying around 20 metres offshore from the Belgian Promenade in the town of Menai Bridge on Anglesey, just upstream of the famous Menai Suspension Bridge.
Only the rocky tip of the island is visible at high spring tide, but as the water recedes, an area of rock, sand, and seaweed is exposed, providing valuable feeding ground for wading birds such as oystercatcher, redshank, and curlew. The island historically marked the site of one of the many ferry crossings that operated across the Menai Strait before the construction of Thomas Telford’s suspension bridge in 1826 rendered most of them obsolete.
Menai Bridge itself, known in Welsh as Porthaethwy, grew up around the bridge and remains a popular town for visitors exploring the strait. Carreg yr Halen’s modest tidal presence offers a small but tangible link to the strait’s long history as a crossing point between Anglesey and the Welsh mainland.
The surrounding waters and shoreline support Red Squirrel, Chough and Puffin, among the wildlife typically recorded in this part of the coast. Search Isle classes it as a tidal island, reachable on foot at low tide. It is one of the islands recorded in the Menai Strait area.
Tides
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Next high water
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Next low water
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Not for crossing. These are modelled tide heights, not safe crossing times. Tidal causeways and sands can flood quickly: always check the official safe crossing times and local signs before walking out.
Heights in metres relative to mean sea level; times are UK time. Not for navigation. Tide model: Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0).
How to get to Carreg yr Halen
You can reach Carreg yr Halen on foot.
On foot
You can walk to Carreg yr Halen at low tide. The way across floods quickly as the tide turns: check the safe crossing times and local signs, and never cross on a rising tide.
Plan your trip
Timetables change, so always check with the operator before you travel. We may earn a commission if you book through some of these links, at no extra cost to you.
Wildlife
86 species recorded on the island
Highlights
All wildlife
Loading all 86 species…
Nothing on the list is usually seen this month.
Recordings from Wikimedia Commons, under Creative Commons licences; hover a Listen button for the recordist. Sightings are records shared with GBIF since 2000.
Watching wildlife responsibly. Keep your distance from seals, seabird colonies and cetaceans, stay quiet, and never feed or chase wildlife. See the WiSe Scheme guidance for watching marine wildlife.
