After a large fundraising effort, the island was successfully purchased in April 2006 for £650,000,[8] and designated a national nature reserve in December 2008.

[10][11][12][13] Lockley started the Pembrokeshire Bird Protection Society in 1938,[14] now incorporated in the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.

The WWFC followed on the Lease by Ronald Lockley which had run from 1927 but direct involvement commenced two years earlier when in 1946 the bird observatory was re-opened after the war.

Skokholm had been the site of the most thorough British studies of the European storm petrel and razorbill amongst the seabirds and the Eurasian oystercatcher and the northern wheatear amongst the landbirds.

A couple of north–south aligned faults affect the strata at the eastern end of the island, erosion along them being responsible for both Crab Bay and North Haven.

A couple of areas of till, a relict of the Irish Sea Icesheet from the last Ice Age are smeared across the island's surface.

All of these areas house common natural species including three-lobed water crowfoot, tree mallow, marsh St. John's wort, small nettle, and sea campion.

Larger fungi were extensively studied in the 1940s and 1950s by Frederick Parker-Rhodes who published a series of papers based on his research on the island.

[4] Ronald Lockley, a pioneering ornithologist, especially famous for his work on puffins and shearwaters, wrote many books featuring Skokholm, where he lived and researched for many years.

[4] Connecting boats leave from Martin's Haven, with booked visitors able to stay on this island in basic accommodation.

In 2010, the trust announced improvements to the island's landing jetty to allow easier access, with a £38,250 development project funded by Crown Estates and RWE Npower.