TARMACHAN MOUNTAINEERING: LAST OF THE PUFFINS & UNSETTLED WEATHER

Sunday, 16 July 2023

LAST OF THE PUFFINS & UNSETTLED WEATHER

Puffins and sand eels

For (probably) the last time this season I was out photographing the adorable Atlantic Puffins on the beautiful Isle of May. There are numerous boat companies that go out every day to the Isle of May, the two main spots where they sail from are Anstruther and Dunbar. These are extremely busy during the 'Puffin Season@ which is mid April till the end of July. You almost always have to book your place a couple of weeks in advance. Doing this you are at the mercy of the weather of course. Bad weather and/or rough seas can cancel te trip or you are photographing in dull and wet conditions. I took a chance last a couple of weeks ago and booked a day trip on the Tuesday, I tied this in with a visit to family in Liverpool.

Plenty of Puffins!

On my journey back from Liverpool I stopped off at Dunbar and was on the cruise from Dunbar to the island with the excellent Blue Wild boat tour. Wonderful folk, Alan and Amanda on board offering a friendly, informative and safety conscious trip out.

Dunbar Harbour

Dunbar is a lovely wee town to visit

The weather forecast for Tuesday was not looking that great. I just missed the nice spell of settled, sunny and clear weather over the weekend and the next few days looked very unsettled with low pressure systems drifting in off the Atlantic.

The magnificent Bass Rock

Looking at the weather forecast right up to the day itself looked ominous. Thundery downpours just at the time when we were due on the Isle of May. Oh well. That's the luck of the draw. We departed .

Dunbar, Alan informing us it was a bit rough out on the waves. The excellent RIB could cope no bother

The shots I was after!

A trio of Puffins

No sand eel too big for this guy

We had 3 hours on the isle, all in beautiful sunshine! Brilliant. The Isle of May is not only about puffins of course. There is a wealth of other seabirds to see including Razorbills, Guillemots, Eider and Arctic Terns. Unfortunately the Arctic Terns never bred this season, they arrived in their hundreds but left shortly after, the staff on the isle (managed by NatureScot) didn't know the reason. Strange that this occurred.

Guillemots

I came out for probably my last opportunity to capture the iconic image of the Puffins with sand eels in their beaks. It's an amazing sight to see, a single bird collecting and carrying more than half a dozen sand eels in their beaks. This period in their time on land they are feeding up their chicks (Pufflings) which are in the burrows and normally unseen. They have just a short few weeks to get them fed and grown enough for the Pufflings to fly out to sea. It must be exhausting work for the adults, constantly fling out to sea and finding food several times throughout the day. The sand eel is the Puffins favourite and most abundant 'catch'.

I was more than happy with the thousands of Puffing images I shot. A great end to my season photographing these amazing wee birds. By the end of this month they will all be gone from our shores and back out at sea where they spend the majority of their life. I'm certain I will be back again in April for their arrival again. If you want to see these iconic birds for yourself then I personally recommend The Isle of May and the Isle of Lunga the finest places in the British Isles to see them.

Back closer to home and the unsettled these continues. Sunshine, showers and thunderstorms almost every day. Yesterday our planned trip up Ben Rinnes was shelved and instead we played safe and had a wildlife day down at the coast, at Spey Bay.