In Search of Island Birds Part 1

May is usually one of the best months of the year in Dorset for rarities so why book a holiday away for one of the best months of the year, is a question I'm still trying to answer. In compensation we visited some beautiful islands with fantastic habitats and met some lovely people.  

It all started many months ago when Jackie saw that Hurtigruten were doing a UK Island Expedition cruise which included two islands we have long wanted to visit Rathlin and St Kilda and having previously been with them on a Northern Lights, Norway trip decided to give it a try as it wasn't your normal type of cruise. On board they have a ornithologist, botanist, biologist and an expert on Cetaceans from ORCA. They also had an expert on Viking mythology and history as many of the islands we were to visit had Viking history. 

Hurtigruten's MS Maud Fishguard © Jackie Hull

We were to board our ship 'MS Maud' at Dover and sailed overnight and the next day to Fishguard for our first landing where we used ribs to go ashore to the jetty.  Oddly though Jackie and I have visited Pembrokeshire a number of times we had never been to Fishguard but recently had watched a TV programme featuring the Fishguard tapestry which depicts the last invasion of Britain by the French. We thought it would be good to see it for ourselves so we headed into town and to the Library, and I have to say the tapestry was fantastic at 30m in length and a little longer than the Bayeux tapestry, the needlework was superb and well worth a visit if you're ever in the area.  

A section of the tapestry depicting the women dressed in traditional clothing marching around a local hill to make the French think there was a larger army resident in the town than they thought.

This depicts local heroine, Jemima Nicholas, who is said to have captured soldiers single-handedly and secured them in St Mary’s Church.

After, we refreshed at The Royal Oak where the surrender was signed and where the table it was signed on still resides. A very welcoming pub also worth a visit as though you require encouragement.

Jackie, Fran and David contemplating whether it was time for drinks. © Nick Hull

We sailed in the evening and as became the norm we had dinner and headed out onto deck 6 and positioned ourselves overlooking the bow and seawatched, till almost dark before turning in for the night. Our destination next morning was Rathlin Island so we had a slow cruise up the Irish Sea passing the Isle of Man on to this beautiful Island off the Northern Ireland coast.   Land of the Golden Hare which was something Jackie and I hoped to see.  

There were 15 Ribs to transport passengers to shore © Jackie Hull

We were lucky to be in the first group to get ashore and we caught the shuttle bus to the RSPB reserve to look at the seabird colony which I have to say was tremendous with high stacks and cliffs full of birds Guillemot, Razorbill, Puffin, Shag, Fulmar, Kittiwake and the more common Herring and Great Black- backed Gulls.

Just as we approaching the centre Jackie spotted a hare from the bus, soon as we were off we were scanning for the hare and one of the RSPB wardens told us that one was usually somewhere near the rocks over there and pointed to the field opposite.  We scanned with telescope and found it crouched down sheltering from the wind in a tussock of rushy grass. It was some distance away but because of it's golden blond colour you could make it out easily.

My digi-scoped shot of the Golden Hare on Rathlin Island.

So you can see what they really look like I've shared a You Tube video taken by Rathlin Stickybeak a group which records the Islands Wildlife, which shows the hare much better than my photograph.

Whilst looking for the hare I found a Great Skua or Bonxie as they are also known which lifted off and flew off towards the seabird colony around the head.  As this required a 100 step to get down to the viewing area by the lighthouse only David and myself made the descent which allowed us to see the many thousand of Guillemots, Razorbill, Puffin, Kittiwake, Fulmar, Shag plus Great Black-backed and Herring Gull. 

A view of one of the sea cliff colonies at Rathlin RSPB © Nick Hull

We really had to short a time here but due to the popularity of the site and to allow as many  people to visit we jumped back on the bus and travelled back to the bay and headed off to a few small fields behind the houses where we were told we may hear Corncrake.

Sounds of Corncrake Rathlin Island © Nick Hull

After standing on the lane and listening to two Corncrake for ages in the hope that one of them would show which they didn't, we headed back to the beach and sat at one of the picnic benches and had some of the best chips from the mobil van that anyone could have.  It probably helped that it was sunny and warm and we were able to watch Black Guillemot and Eider with recently hatched ducklings in the small harbour.

Eider and ducklings also Black Guillemot - Rathlin Is. Harbour © Nick Hull

Unfortunately our time came to leave but Jackie and I agreed that we will come back and visit again in the future to this beautiful island. 

Our next destination was due to be Isle of Iona but unfortunately the swell was such that it was unsafe for the ribs to take us across, while "plan B" was decided and the captain sailed us around Staffa and Fingal's Cave unfortunately it was wet and misty.  Plan B turned out to be taking us into Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, a lovely colourful town but it turned very wet so was not our best day.

However the weather change for our next landing, St. Kilda an island I've always wanted to visit and was my main reason for going on this expedition cruise, though I knew that being able to land there was always risky as the landing is difficult if there is any sort of sea swell, and speaking to others some had tried several times and failed to get ashore but the forecast looked good.

View of the village on St. Kilda from our anchorage out in the bay © Nick Hull

As numbers were limited on the island each group that went ashore had approximately two hours to explore as much as you can in the allotted time.  Our first bird species that we saw was a little unexpected a Whooper Swan as we were heading into shore on one of the ribs.

Whooper Swan - St. Kilda © Nick Hull

The jetty isn't the easiest to get off of but we all managed it without incident and the first birds to be seen on the island, well you couldn't miss them as the glided effortlessly low over our head to their nest site on the harbour wall were Fulmar.

Fulmar nesting along the sea wall © Nick Hull

Then as we walked around the edge of the harbour towards the island helipad we met lots of the Soay Sheep.  These animals are treated as wild sheep and are not interfered with so if one breaks a leg it either survives or dies as if it were a wild animal, it appears with so many lambs around they survive very well as there were many around the village.  All the adults were very scruffy as they were shedding their winter fleece.

Soay Sheep - St Kilda © Nick Hull

A little further on whilst we were trying to find a Wren that had just flown into the shoreline boulders, we had another species we hadn't considered that we would see on the island, spotted by Fran moving through the shoreline rocks was a stunning male Snow Bunting.

Male Snow Bunting - St. Kilda © Nick Hull

Shortly after we managed to see our first St Kilda (Hebridean) Wren, a sub species of our Common Wren which has slightly different feather markings and is a tad bigger than the mainland race with a slightly different song but when you listen it sounds like a Wren, I just wish I had my recording equipment with me.

St. Kilda (Hebridean) Wren © Nick Hull

Other species seen around the village were a pair of Arctic Skua both dark phase birds, lots of Wheatear around all the stone walled enclosures and on a small wet bog we had several Snipe which we often heard calling with the yapping sound at various locations around the village.  We also had what we can only say sounded like a Ring Ouzel singing high up on a scree above the village but we couldn't find it for love nor money.  Though I did see a a bird at one point fly across and out of view over a ridge which looked very much like a male Ring Ouzel with silvery panels in the wing.

Northern Fulmar - St. Kilda © Nick Hull

I don't usually like getting too close to Fulmar as they can let loose and throw the contents of their stomach 

at you as a form of defence but this one came in and landed on to one of the stone turf covered houses right next to me. Though it does seem to have a smirk on it's face as it looked down it's tube nose at me, so I didn't stay in range too long.

After our village walk we caught a rib back to the ship for lunch and then in the afternoon we caught another for a rib cruise around the bay to see the nesting birds and seals.

Puffin and Razorbill taken from the rib loafing on the water St Kilda © Nick Hull

Some Bridled Guillemot with the usual plumaged Guillemot © Nick Hull

On the high-rise ledges which have well painted in guano were a number of Guillemot which had the white spectacle look which are known as Bridled Guillemot which are found much more as you move further north.

Kittiwake on their nesting ledge St Kilda © Nick Hull

As we moved around the bay there were a couple of what only can be calls shallow caves and this is where we found the Kittiwake nesting set back under the overhanging cliff above.

Great Skua (Bonxie) patrolling the sea cliff © Nick Hull

As with many of the northern seabird colonies there is always predators either Great Black-backed Gull or Bonxie and here we had two birds, one came very low and just cruised past us looking for the opportunity to pounce on an unsuspecting auk or Kittiwake to get a free meal. These birds have suffered terribly on the island from avian-flu this year and around 48% of the islands breeding population have died. It's very tragic and they aren't the only species Gannets and auks are being effected as well.

At sea level we had several Grey Seal, some resting on the flatter areas of the rocks and a few were in the water.  Our coxswain, as were the others, very good and didn't go too close so not to disturb them allowing them to get their rest and conserve their energy.

Atlantic Grey Seal - St Kilda © Nick Hull

Most areas of the cliffs had something going on, the green areas at the top Puffin and then a little lower Razorbill and Guillemot then the Kittiwake and then Shag and seals at the base.  Though one very high promintary had a group of resting Shag which looked quite prehistoric sat so high silhouetted against the pale grey sky.

Shag resting - St Kilda © Nick Hull

After our rib cruise around the bay it was back to the ship freshen up and then have our evening meal before heading back out for a evening seawatch on deck 6.  This seawatch produced possibly the best bird of the trip as we were watching lots of Shearwaters, Guillemot, Puffin and Gannet coming and going and as the light was just starting to dim Jackie shouts "Nick over here, out there going right" Amazingly I saw it straight away and couldn't quite believe what I was looking at a Leach's Petrel skimming across the sea unfortunately too far out for my 100/400 lens but we were able to watch it for a couple of minutes before it was gone from sight.