Cemlyn Beach

Cemlyn is a large, sweeping stretch of shingle beach located on Anglesey’s north coast.

The shingle ridge provides a barrier between a large saltwater lagoon behind the beach. This is an important and unique wildlife habitat which is managed by the North Wales Wildlife Trust as a nature reserve. The reserve is perhaps best known for its colony of breeding sandwich terns.

The lagoon is actually partly man made; previously it was an area of salt marsh but a Captain Vivian Hewitt decided to further his interest in birds by building a dam across the outflow, turning it into a lagoon.

All the beach, lagoon and much of the surrounding countryside is owned by the National Trust as part of the Cemlyn Estate. Whilst this guarantees the areas preservation it is hard not to notice the hulking form of Wylfa nuclear power station just to the east.