Monday 20th May comments: The seabird breeding season has been ticking along (but it hasn’t all been good news). However that changed today as we confirmed our first puffin chicks. The first adult puffin was seen carrying fish in flight this afternoon indicating that a chick has hatched on the Isle as a hungry mouth needs feeding. Puffins incubate their single egg for 40 days so there is a suggestion the first egg date was around the 11th April. Over the next few weeks mass hatching will occur across the Isle of May and the island will certainly feel a lot busier than recent times as a ..read more

Wednesday 15th May comments: It’s been very evident in recent weeks that not all is well on the seabird cliffs of the Isle of May. Our friends at UKCEH who study the Guillemot population at great depth are reporting low numbers of birds, with gaps in the colonies once filled with birds. We are aware that Guillemots have had a tough winter (winter survival lower than expected) and this will be contributing to low attendance. We will have a much clearer picture when we undertake the full count of the population starting on 1st June which will enable us to compare to recent years and ..read more

Northern Lights off the Isle of May (Erin Taylor)Dancing in the night sky (Erin Taylor)Fantastic to see (Erin Taylor) What a night on the Isle of May. Following alerts on social media, the islands residence including those in Fluke Street and the bird observatory were treated to a night time spectacle as the aurora borealis (the northern lights) danced across the island skies. The lights; green and red, showed well as shards of light split the night sky. Auroras are the result of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by the solar wind. Major disturbances result from enhancements in the ..read more

Wednesday 8th May comments: It’s never dull on the Isle of May as today we were captivated by the sea or more to the point, what was in it! The calm conditions resulted in a flat sea (not much swell or wave height) meaning we could see far and wide. During an early morning scan, four Harbour Porpoise were noted and soon after 15 Bottle-nosed Dolphins (the species is shown above) spotted circling the island. This was all great news but then further excitement happened as a Humpback Whale was discovered feeding just east of the island. The animal was seen circling and feeding, whilst the blo ..read more

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