We have been lucky enough to get out on the water a couple of times this week to do some boat based sea bird surveys of the cliffs round the Oa reserve and Colonsay. On tuesday, in less than ideal conditions, we counted the small scattered groups of auks, fulmars and kittiwakes around the Oa.
The numbers on the Oa cliffs are quite small, we counted around 75 pairs of kittiwakes, 121 guillemots, 87 razorbills and 146 pairs of fulmars. The count shows a significant decline over recent years, in line with much of the rest of Scotland.
It was nice to view the reserve from a different angle, the cliffs looked even more impressive than usual from the sea.
By the time we got back, we were thoroughly soaked from rain and sea spray........
.....but enjoying ourselves nonetheless.
I'll post some photos, and some slightly more impressive bird numbers, from the Colonsay trip on the next blog