Noss Cliffs & young seabirds..

Third trip of the season to Noss, yet again it was amazing! This time we went on the Dunter III, ‘The Noss Boat’, allowing my parents to see the seabird colonies I am always talking about from sea level. Lots of young fluffy gannets and guillemots on the cliffs, and we even got a little surprise when a young guillemot had jumped and was on the sea with its parents! There were a lot of gannets collecting seaweed and feathers off the water, not sure if they were breeding adults making alterations to nests or immature birds taking gifts to prospective partners, but made for some interesting images and scraps between individuals.

Puffins & Guillemots

The past few days have been spent in all different places, my parents arrived on Saturday from England so I have the next two weeks with them, showing them all the amazing places Shetland has to offer. Yesterday was a super sunny day, so we took a drive to St Ninian’s Isle and Sumburgh. Great to see lots of puffins at both!

On friday, before I left the Brookes’, Rob, Rona & I went for one last trip to Hermaness, was a fab day visiting the puffins & guillemots and seeing an otter attempting to hunt puffins sat on the water just below the cliffs.

Tysties

 

Taken a few more trips to the Tystie’s this week, lots of fish being brought in which is great to see. Such fab little birds to work on and with patience and lots of waiting, they will happily spend time on the rocks only metres from me.

 

Return trip to Noss…

Burrowing puffins and my first Guillemots…

Sunday was spent on Hermaness, a long day walking was so worth it when I came across a relatively accessible Guillemot shelf all by myself. These seabirds are a key element of my research preparation for my dissertation and third year major project.

Aswell as finding the Guillemots, I also spent some time working with the puffins, documenting different aspects of their nesting behaviours; collecting nest material and excavating their burrows.

Black Guillemots, more work on Auks.

Saxavord

Tonight Rob and I visited Saxavord to work with the Bonxies and to see the sunset over Muckle Flugga at 9.30pm, we were out till just gone 11pm, when the sun had just gone below the horizon. The light was great, but I really want to re-visit and work from a different angle to get the birds flying towards me.

Sumburgh Puffins

Took a visit to Sumburgh Head to photograph the puffins a couple of days ago. Fantastic to see them within the sea pinks and to get some nice behaviour interactions between pairs.

As well as puffins, I also spent some time with this starling who was feeding its brood in a stone wall. Amazing detailing on the feathers of a more often than not, over looked bird.

Positively puffin..

Visited Hermaness again today to photograph the Puffins, as well as taking my digital cameras, I also took my Rolleiflex with me to have some fun with. The birds were out in force and I had my first puffin with sand eels of the season!