Hi folks. We took a trip out to the Isle of May in the Forth estuary on Thursday so I thought I’d share a few photos with you. The boat was called The May Princess and left from Anstruther on the Fife coast. The Island is around five miles offshore and the trip out took round about one hour. The sea was quite choppy which I have to admit to enjoying although Mrs A was a strange colour by the time we got out there. The only criticism that I have is that due to tides we only got to spend around two and a half hours on the island which is no-where near enough time to see it all without running around everywhere. This of course means that we’ll have to take another trip out in three or four week’s time to see the other half of the island (the sacrifices I have to make).!! There are toilet facilities on the boat and also a small refreshments area where you can purchase snacks, coffee and the likes. The boat is very well kept with comfortable seats and seating is available ‘outside’ or ‘inside’. There is a wee hut at the harbour where payments are made (£24 per adult) and it is advisable to book in advance, especially at weekends or on public holidays. The crew were also very helpful and talked a bit about the island and the wildlife through speakers on the boat on the way out to the island. This first photo is a map of the island produced by Scottish National Heritage. I've loaded this on as quite a large image so if you feel like clicking on it you should be able to see a detailed map of the island. Note the scale of 200 metres which gives an idea of the actual size of the island. The isle is approached from the 'top' of the map with the harbour being at the bottom left.
The Isle of May
This next photo is of the May Princess
A photo of the harbour before we set out.
There is another way out to the Island on this boat, 'The Osprey’, but I think that I'll leave that to the more adventurous.!!
The Osprey overtaking us on the way out.
I had to wait until we were a good way out to pick the Island up in the haze.
As we got in closer, the Skipper took us on a slow sail past the cliffs (which are around 60 metres high at the tallest bits). There were birds nesting on all the ledges, mostly Guillemot's but with some Razorbill's and Kittiwake's among them.
Another view a bit further round.
This next photo is the landing area on the far side of the island. The waves here are coming straight in from the North Sea and although they don't look too big in the photos, the boat was rising and falling around fifteen feet as we came into the narrow channel for the small harbour. Great fun (although Mrs A strongly disagrees with me on this point).!!
Once on the island, a nice man from the reserve gave us a quick talk about the rules and the need to stay on the paths due to birds nesting on the ground very close to where you walk. There is a colony of Arctic Terns that nest at each side of the only way forward so we were bombarded by angry birds within five minutes of our arrival. I had the 170 -500mm lens on so actually found it really difficult to get any really good shots of the Terns as they were right on top of us. It's also advisable to wear a hat or put a hood up as their beaks are very sharp and they can peck you on the head with surprising force as I found out (three times).!! A few shots of Arctic Terns, although I hope to get better shots the next time we're here.
We decided to head over to the West sid of the island to begin with as I really wanted to see if we could find an area where we could see some Fulmars. I got a few shots along the way, this frist one of a Great Black-backed Gull taking it easy in the sunshine.
A few Puffins were around as well.
My bird photos HERE
Almost lost the lot there, once again I lost all functions except for 'post'. Please bear with me, more stuff to follow.
Paul
Continuing on from the Puffins on the rock before everything froze up, this next shot is of a Herring Gull (I think) on a close fly past.
Then a distant Fulmar....
The amount of birds flying to and fro was just amazing, everywhere you looked there was something going on. I took hundreds of photos but have to say that the vast majority of them turned out blurred (I seem to have great difficulty at times with the lens hunting for focus on moving birds, especially gulls for some reason. Perhaps a lack of contrast in the colouring or maybe just limitations in camera/lens/user abilities). Anyway, for anyone who’s tried getting Puffins in flight, you’ll know how many ‘dud’ shots you have to go through to try to get a decent one. This was the first useable flying Puffin of the day.
Still on the lookout for Fulmars, we passed by this rather gorgeous Lesser Black-backed Gull.
Rounding a curve in the path which took us past the top of some east facing cliffs, we at last got our first decent views of Fulmars. (You may have noticed that I get a bit excited by Fulmars and I have to confess that they're way up there on my large list of favourite birds).!! Just in case anyone didn’t know, although Fulmars look like Gulls, they are in fact members of the Petrel family. The tubular nostrils you can see on the birds excrete excess salt.(Please feel free to correct me about this if I’m wrong).!! They are (to me anyway) one of the best birds ever to watch flying, especially along the edge of cliffs where they ‘hang’ and turn on the up draughts, they just make flying look to be a pleasure rather than a necessity. This first shot is of a Fulmar on the edge of the cliff very close to the path.
It was actually quite difficult to get shots of them with the lens back at 170mm as they were coming so close to us, I've got lots of shots with parts of the bird missing as I couldn't get far enough away to get the full bird in the frame. I'll add the best of the photos with the entire bird in the frame. This one seems to be checking us out with a cheeky grin on its face.
I just managed to clip the top off the wing of this one but I thought I'd add it due to the great view of the plumage, and also the typical pose as he hangs in the air before swooping away again.
I'm typing this with a big daft grin on my face. Fulmars are great.!!
A shot of a pair on the ledge.
And a few moe flying shots before moving on (reluctantly).!!
A passing Great Black-backed Gull almost caught me out.
Walking further on we heard a new bird call (to us anyway) and were rewarded by seeing our first ever Rock Pipit. More of a record shot but here he is anyway.
A Herring Gull sitting on her nest.
And a few more of her friends.
Further round now at the part of the map named Altarstanes. Not the best of shots but here we have a Shag on a cliff ledge.
And one on the nest.
A few shots now of some of the Kittiwake's on their nests.
Gathering nesting materials.
And one more. (Note the dark legs which I think can be a great help with identifying a Kittiewake).
A few Guillemot's on the ledges.
A closer shot in the water. Quite difficult with the back lighting.
And another shot on a ledge.
There were far less Razorbill's around, this shot was of one just below the edge of a cliff.
Moving back towards the boat now as time was starting to run out for us. A few Puffin shots, this returning bird passing the lighthouse.
And another
These sand eels are average sized, I saw one 'THIS BIG'....
A final fly by...
Another Great Black-backed Gull on the way down towards the boat.
And a few more Arctic Tern's who at the slipway where the boat was.
Back on the boat now and a shot of a pair of Tern's on the rocks at the wee harbour.
And a final shot before heading back out. There were actually four female Eider Ducks who were herding these youngsters about, obviously a defence tactic against the marauding Gulls who were always on the lookout for an easy meal. Luckily these youngsters were being well looked after.
And one more....
Back out to sea and the wind and swell had dropped a good bit although I still wouldn't go in paddling.
Back round at the calm side of the Island, a few shots of the cliffs and birds on the way back.
A few final shots of the nesting birds.
One more...
A final Razorbill in the sea...
And a last Puffin to finish off with.
We had a great time on the Island but as I said earlier, two and a half hours just isn't enough time to see it all. We plan to return maybe next month to see the part of the island that we didn't get time to see. I do hope you've enjoyed the photos here, I certainly enjoyed taking them. You just can't beat a good seabird colony, although maybe I'm just saying that beacause I don't get to see them often enough. Thanks for looking.
Great shots and a great tour Paul thanks for sharing, I got the distinct impression that you liked Fulmars !!they're all great but I do like the Puffins myself. Looking forward to part two next month.
Terry
cheers Terry
my photo's here
Really enjoyed that day out of yours Paul, wonderful pics of all the birds, great scenery, lovely seas, sorry Mrs P, I can see why you would just have to go back for more. that last puffin looks so colourful, btw, great shot, and those eider ducks and young, brilliant.
Lot to learn
Hi Paul -lovely thread and very interesting. Some beautiful photos there,can't pick a favourite!I have been watching/photographing Fulmar today,such characters.We are taking a boat trip over to the Isles of Scilly tomorrow as the weather looks ok-really looking forward to it
Jayne
See my Flickr photos here.
Thanks folks. The Fulmars were the highlight for me, I've been in awe of them since I first saw one flying in gale force winds on Orkney many years ago. We definitley want to go back but this time I think we'll just try to find a quiet spot and sit there and watch the world go by. There's so much going on that I suspect you'd see most of the species from the one spot if you sat long enough. The Rock Pipit was also up there on my smileometer though.!! I hope you have a great time tomorrow Jayne.
Hi Paul and what a lovely account of your trip - it sounds like the most fabulous place. I am a bit disappointed though because I looked at your thread a few hours ago and half the photos were just little red crosses and blank boxes and I have waited to try again later, and the same thing has happened. Don't know whether it's the site or my kpatop because Tery, Gaynor and Jayne haven't mentioned any problems. Anyway the photos I can see are brilliant (and I will keep trying to get the rest!) I know you like the fulmars but I can't resist a puffin with a beak full of sandeels! Well captured.
See my Flickr photos here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/115745582@N04/
Hello Paul,
I'm at work now and the computer is very, veeeeeryyyyy slow, so most pictures won't open at all, but the ones I could see were great. I'm glad that you had a lovely time. Although I like waves and wind and choppy seas as well, I feel very much for Mrs A. Did I tell sometime that I have once visited Staffa? The boat was even smaller than your "May Princess", and the sea got rougher every minute, and so even for me the 45 minutes back to Iona were the longest 45 minutes in my life. It did not come to the worst, mind you, but I had to keep standing and looking outside and I was relieved when we finally arrived.
I'm looking forward for tomorow, when I will be able to appreciate your pictures more properly.
Bye bye for now, Bente
Just to say Christine (Gaynor and Jayne haven't mentioned any problems,) my first attempt at pasting!!! I did have trouble seeing all the photos, it froze three times but eventually sorted itself out, I put it down to this computer :)
Thanks folks. When I tried to upload these photos today it took the same amount of time as the whole trip to and from the Island.!! I hope that if you look back in, the photos may be able to be seen but to be honest I think I may give up on posting any more photos for a while. It seems that whether it's down to me on this end or the site itself, I get somewhere between 10 - 30 error messages for every photo I attempt to post and I think this is part of why you can't see all of them. I mentioned this a while back on the 'fundamental problems' thread and unsurprisingly got no reply. I'm glad that you liked the photos that you can see though and many thanks for the kind comments.