Scotland Holiday Day 11 : 16th July 2012 : Isle of May / Bass Rock

Scotland Holiday Day 11 : 16th July 2012 : Isle of May / Bass Rock

On the Sunday we spent the day doing family visits and so on in Edinburgh and Musselburgh but we added an additional day onto our holiday so that I could have a chance to take a boat trip out to the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth as I had done last year. I was so impressed with both getting there and being there that I just wanted to do it all again. As it happens the weather was not the same as our previous sail out to the island – it was lovely and calm all the way and totally dry. This time I did not want to go on the guided walk but just to roam around the island on my own taking photographs and just sitting and looking at everything.

The boat journey was quite unlike my last one as we sped over the calm seas. As we got near to Bass Rock the number of Gannets started to increase and as we went beyond and neared the Isle of May the number of Puffins in the air increased until they were everywhere. The weather last time I did this journey had been so bad that the skipper of the boat landed us with some urgency whilst he could. Today it was a different matter as the sea was really calm so the skipper and guide gave us a circumnavigation of the island which was very interesting. As we sailed around the various parts of the islands we could see the favoured locations for colonies of Shags, Kittiwakes, Guillemots etc.

We landed easily and got out of our protective clothing and some of the others joined the tour guide for a walk around some of the island. This is well worth doing for some historical background on the island to get quickly to where most of the birds are. I preferred to go at my own pace so I waited until the others went off and I went in the opposite direction. The very first thing that struck me was the incredible number of Common and Arctic Terns on the island. 2011 had apparently been a very bad year for them and the colony had “collapsed”. I had only seen a rather small colony near the Main Light in 2011 so I had a very different idea of what to expect. It seemed, now, like most parts of the island you went to was dominated by Terns. In many parts of the island it was impossible not to get attacked by the Terns for getting too close to their nests – even whilst staying strictly to the paths that are laid out. This is great for photography but I must say trying to catch Terns in flight is a skill I have not mastered yet. Still I got some nice photos of perched Terns !

I spent a lot of time looking around the colony right by the visitor centre and was happy doing so until a shower of rain made it had to take any pictures. Having ones hood up made protection against Tern attack easier though. I eventually moved along when the boat from Anstruther arrived carrying a very large group of Japanese visitors. In an attempt to avoid the crowds I walked towards the Priory and cam along the far side of the Loch. As I started up Palpitation Hill I passed the others that had been on my boat coming down the hill and we all stopped to take photos of the Puffins on the rocks there. On the loch itself were lots of Gulls and some Black Guillemots.

I walked on in the direction of Bishops Cove though in all honesty I started to feel that perhaps it would take too long to get to Bishop’s Cove at the end so I decided to turn back and then took the Haven Road back down by the East Brays. The paths weren’t too bad but there was clear evidence of just how much rain there had been on the island this year – just like everywhere else this Spring and Summer. Normally the island doesn’t get much rain but this year many of the Puffin burrows had been washed out and in general the rain made it hard for all the birds. It is ironic because apparently the food supply has been exceptionally good this year so it just goes to show how everything has to fall in place together to get a good breeding year.

I turned right at Holyman’s Road and walked in the direction of the Low Light and here I was very surprised to see that there were actually very few Puffins standing around. Previously when I had been here the Puffins had been absolutely everywhere. To be fair there were a lot of them to be seen on the sea so perhaps it just wasn’t the right time of day. There were Guillemots, Razorbills, Kittiwakes and Fulmars though and since I had more Puffin photos from our visit to Lunga than I knew what to do with I wasn’t that bothered. In fact the mass presence of the Terns everywhere was just as interesting to me and I was happy enough just watching them. A few Gannets were visible just off the island and there were Oystercatchers and Pied Wagtails as well as lots of Gulls.

It seemed like too short a time before it was time to get back to the visitor centre and get ready to get back on the boat. It was also a chance to cool down a bit from what had turned into a really warm day. Back on the boat we headed towards the Bass Rock for a short pause before returning to the harbour at North Berwick. The 350 foot high, volcanic Bass Rock is just the most amazing place and long before you get there you know you are inf or something special as the skies start to fill with Gannets and Guillemots. Not just a few – but thousands. Bass Rock is the world’s biggest single Rock Gannetry (St Kilda boasts the biggest Gannetry spread over three rocks) with perhaps some 80,000 Gannets. As their numbers increase the Great Black-backed Gulls have been forced off the rock but there are still impressive numbers of Kittiwakes, Fulmars, Guillemots, Shags  and some Puffins and Eider Ducks.

The boat didn’t tarry for long but the short visit was well worth it. It always stunning to see the Rock, dark at the foot, progressively becoming totally white with Gannets and their by product and then as the rock ends there is a gradient of solid white to sky blue speckled with white dots as thousands of birds take to the air and disperse to scan the seas for food or nesting material to bolster their ever windswept nests. It is impossible to impart exactly the atmosphere of this place. I would imagine it is as close to the bird world as it is possible for humans to get.

We returned back to the mainland and into the human world again. We had booked into the nearby McDonalds Resort Hotel for this one day so that Anne could have somewhere to relax during the day when I was out birding. We had paid a bit extra to have a view of the sea so after getting back to the room and getting cleaned up we could sit with a drink in hand and look out of our window and actually see the Bass Rock as the afternoon light started to fade. A quick walk cross the links gave us views of Hooded Crow and as we reached the beach, Sand Martin were flitting around. Nearer to the shore, now, we could also see Cormorants and Herring Gulls. What an end to a fantastic ten days in Scotland !

Bird Sightings : Isle of May

Bird Sightings : Bass Rock