Nightingale the islands first since 2015 (David Steel) Grey-headed Wagtail (David Steel) male Bluethroat (Leo du Feu) Friday 3rd May comments: We’ve been waiting and boy did it deliver! The month of April was cold as it was dominated by northerly winds and as a result it was blocking bird migration. Birds attempting to head north from their southern wintering grounds were blocked and very few were making it through (and we didn’t blame them staying down south in the warmth). However yesterday the wind switched more to the east, with a hint of southerly and with it, the birds arrived. The mo ..read more

Tuesday 30th April comments: Its been a busy two days as yesterday morning a joint team comprising of NatureScot and UKCEH staff started a full census of the Puffin population on the island. The mammoth task is the first time it’s been undertaken in seven years and is involving thirteen team members. The island is surveyed across all areas and every presumed occupied burrow is counted (as this is a pair of birds). The signs of occupation are often obvious with feather, droppings or freshly dug dirt indicating that an underground burrow is in use by a pair of Puffins. On occasions w ..read more

Sunday 28th April comments: Atlantic Puffins are well known, well loved and well studied but we are about to embark on a mission; to count the Isle of May population for the first time in seven years.   Overall Europe holds approximately 90% of the entire world population of Puffins with 60% found in Iceland, 30% in Norway and 10% in the U.K. In a British context there are approximately 5 million Puffins nationwide of which St.Kilda boasts the largest colony, then the Shiants, then the Isle of May in third and the Farne Islands in fourth, as the largest colonies.    ..read more

Friday 26th April comments: As like the previous two springs, this year the month of April has been cold and it has been a slow start to the seabird breeding season. However it is slowly moving in the right direction and on 15th April we discovered our first sitting female Eider on the island which is now incubating eggs. Since then we’ve had one or two more nest with good numbers starting to build on the island Loch and on the sea surrounding the island (you can hear the displaying males as they try to attract a mate). Interestingly birds can actually delay their breeding season i ..read more

Wednesday 24th April comments: It’s been a tough winter for our European Shags and its starting to show on the island. This time last year we were celebrating the hatching of the first chicks, but fast forward to this season and the first eggs have just been discovered, as mentioned in yesterdays blog. However it’s not the delay in the season which is troubling us, but the lack of numbers. Last year we had 674 nesting pairs across the island and the breeding success was good. However in October the island and east coast in general was hit by a series of big storms (Storm Barbet and ..read more

Tuesday 23rd April comments: It may not come to anyone’s surprise that we can announce the news that we are having a late start to the seabird season. The majority of March and most of April has been dominated by northerly or easterly airflows (just how cold has it been!) and as a result bird migration has been slow to start and the seabird breeding season late to begin. The first European Shags are now on eggs, the first were discovered by UKCEH researchers on 19th April at the south end of the island. To put this into context the first eggs were discovered on 16th March last year and ..read more

Tuesday 16th April comments: On Sunday there was a very special welcome arrival to Anstruther, Fife as the town got its new £2.5 million state-of-the-art Shannon class lifeboat. The new all-weather water jet-powered Shannon replaces the older Mersey-class boat which is stepping down from service after three decades. As part of the celebration, hundreds of people lined the harbour to welcome the new arrival with water jets and a party atmosphere. However out here on the Isle of May we were privileged to see the meeting of other lifeboats from Dunbar, Broughty Ferry, Eyemouth and more a ..read more

Tuesday 9th April comments: It’s been a weird and wonderful start to the new season with regards to the weather (in other words its been awful!) and yesterday we had even more fun, as we had to entertain a super high tide. As the moon cycle is full, it results in ‘spring tides’ which brings extra volumes of water. The high tide at the island is usually between 4.8m – 5.2m in height but yesterday the tide peaked at 5.7m (which is a lot of extra water). As a result the visitor boats were moored against the high tide jetty but no one could access them due to the sea (as you can see in the p ..read more

Friday 5th April comments: It’s been a busy period over the last month as we have gone about setting up the island ready for human and avian visitors alike. However it hasn’t come without its challenges as the weather is such a make-or-break factor to work on an island. You can have contractors booked in, equipment purchased and all ready to go and then on the big day, the weather prevents boats from sailing and that is the job called off. Over the last month we’ve had numerous jobs cancelled, booked and cancelled again as the yo-yo effect of attempting to get people to the island ..read more

Hawfinch – the 11th in seven years on the island, ringed and leaving its mark on the ringer! Robin (left) and Fieldfare (right) both migrants to the island Chiffchaff (left) and Brambling (right) Tuesday 2nd April Comments: The season has started in so many ways as we’ve had an early Easter, a traditional April Fools joke, we are now open to visitors, the Puffins are back and we’ve even had bad weather (we almost expect this now!) However we’ve also had migrant birds as it’s that time of year… spring passage! The most noticeable highlights included a Hawfinch which was caught and r ..read more