I had my first trip of the year down to Fowlsheugh on Thursday, despite the absolutely howling wind it was nice to get back on the cliffs again and see the first of the seabirds heading back in to their nest sites.
We were down for the day with the RSPB Aberdeenshire Local Group, who were helping us get the reserve ready for the season, painting benches and signs, repairing the gateway at the reserve entrance and cutting the gorse back along the footpath. We also got a chance to meet up with the regular volunteers who will be helping with guided walks and generally being on site suring the season to chat to visitors about seabirds. If you want to come on a guided Pick Out A Puffin Walk this year, check the main Fowlsheugh page for the times and dates.
I also got my first look at the new bridge which has caused the wardens so many headaches over the winter. Looking at the space where the old bridge was and how much of the bank had been washed away it was pretty easy to see why this wasn't as easy a job as it had first looked. The new bridge is now safe to cross, the handrail and final touches should be done soon. As you can see from the photo, the boardwalk across the muddy section of the stream bank needs to be moved to line up with the new bridge so it's worth wearing a decent pair of boots if you're walking the reserve at the moment.
Bird-wise we did manage to catch sight of the odd Puffin, although we'll have to wait and see if the deaths at sea this winter have badly affected the breeding birds. The cliffs are definitely filling up with Kittiwake, Razorbill and Guillemot and several very handsome pairs of Fulmar on the cliff tops and Vicky saw around 10 Bottle-nose Dolphin passing south of the reserve at the end of last week.