East Angle Bay/ Kilpaison is a "perfect place for birdwatching" - Visit Pembrokeshire
Kilpaison has "fantastic wildlife" - Iolo Williams BBC Naturalist
The area known as Kilpaison gets its name locally from Kilpaison Farm, which was on the banks of the bay, and Kilpaison Corn Mill which was adjacent to Kilpaison Farm. The Bay itself is actually (East) Angle Bay and is a wide, kidney-shaped, shallow bay formed
after the sea eroded the harder sandstone cliffs of the Haven waterway. This allowed the sea in to erode the softer limestone and form the shallow bay of Kilpaison / Angle, leaving the harder sandstone rocks to form Angle point and Sawdern point. At low tide the sea retreats quite a distance, exposing mud flats and making it popular for wading birds. Many different birds can be found at Kilpaison, such as Swans, Herons, Geese, Wheatears, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plovers and Grebes. There are often large flocks of birds and there can be over 100 Dunlin, over 200 Godwit and up to 1000 Wigeon. Some of the ringed birds that visit Kilpaison have travelled from places such as Norway, Germany and near the Denmark / Germany border. There are many other species of animals, flowers and insects that can also be found at Kilpaison, such as lobsters, oysters, rare butterflies, wild orchids and rare Shrill Carder bees. As well as agricultural land, which is still farmed, Kilpaison has a lot of sand dunes and areas which are classed as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).
The site of Kilpaison Farm and Kilpaison Mill was demolished during the oil boom to make way for "The BP Angle Bay Ocean Terminal" in 1961. The Terminal was built at a cost of £6.5 million (over £180 million in today's money). The BP Ocean Terminal comprised a jetty with two deepwater tanker berths at Popton Point, offices at Popton Fort, a tank farm for storage of crude oil at Kilpaison, a pump station, and 60 miles/ 97km of underground pipeline. The pipeline ran to the Llandarcy Refinery near Swansea, which was the first oil refinery in the UK. The berths at the jetty were capable of berthing two 100,000 DWT (deadweight tonnage) tankers in water about 16.5 metres deep. Four tanks with a total storage capacity of over 30,000 tonnes were built at Popton Fort to hold several different oil products. The main tank farm at Kilpaison was 1.5 miles/ 2.4km from the jetty and had eight 21,000 tonne tanks. There was a main pump station that had the ability to pump more than 700 tonnes of crude oil per hour to Llandarcy. The 60 miles of underground pipeline to Llandarcy comprised of 13,000 welded lengths of pipe and crossed through Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Glamorgan and Swansea. The pipeline went under 104 roads, 4 rivers, 28 streams, a canal, 12 railways, 3 aqueducts, several gas lines and was considered to be a feat of engineering in its day.
Today the Angle Bay Ocean Terminal no longer exists and in 1985 the tank farm was closed and the tanks were decommissioned and removed from Kilpaison. Since that time the area has gradually been reclaimed by nature and over the years different types of environmental enhancement work have been done at the former site, such as creating wildflower meadows and habitats for bees and other forms of wildlife. In 2016 volunteers helped to create meadow areas in conjunction with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, restoring and creating habitats for the rare Shrill Carder bee. Kilpaison is also a stronghold for the scarce Silver-studded Blue butterfly and is known for several types of wild orchids.
The area around Kilpaison is thought to be reused from around very early, post-Roman times and many different archaeological finds have been made in the area over the years. The Kilpaison area also contains a Bronze Age Barrow with several Bronze Age Burial Mounds. One burial site contained a megalith standing stone that was over 1.5 metres tall and contained several decorated clay pots. The burial site had been used over many years, like a cemetery, to bury five different sets of human remains which were thought to be of people who were of significant importance during their lifetime. It is one example of the clusters of burial sites, or barrow cemeteries, that are situated along The Ridgeway (now the B4320 road), and highlights the historic importance of this ridge, believed to be because of its alignment with the East-West direction, and because it gives a very good panoramic view over the surrounding area. Burial sites are also seen nearby at Wallaston, Corston and Orielton.