We had another guided walk last night, in fact we had to run two walks as we were oversubscribed. As usual people were blown away by the seabird spectacle. It was a lovely evening ,although the southerly winds were a bit chilly. We saw puffins again, a total of 14, so, so far a 100 percent success rate. Our guided walks will continue into June and July, chck the website for dates.
A good number of the kittiwakes are now incubating eggs. I will have to check my notes from previous years, but it feels they are a few days earlier than in recent years. If this is true, it is maybe because there is a good supply of food (sand eels) and the birds have been able to get themselves into a good breeding condition earlier. There were certainly huge flocks of kittiwakes feeding on the water very close to the cliffs, so hopefully my theory is correct. 2009 was an excellent breeding season for seabirds across Scotland and this was related to a good plentiful supply of sandeels. The theory is that the cold winter of 2008/9 was enough to cool the sea just enough and sandeels flourished. Winter 2009/10 was even colder, so if this theory is correct, we are due another bumper seabird season. Watch this space!
Earlier in the day i was speaking with Year 1 Children from Mackie Academy. They have been invited to design a poster to promote the wildlife spectacle that is Fowlsheugh. The posters will be used around Stonehaven as part of our marketing tool. The lucky winners will win a boat trip from Stonehaven to Fowlsheugh.
Vicky