The Shetland Islands
24th January 2019
2018 I undertook an adventure with a difference. I headed to the Shetland Islands during the English summer with the sole purpose of seeing and photographing the gorgious little Atlantic Puffin. After a humungous series of flights I arrived in Sumburgh on the Shetland Mainland - a few hours sleep then in a tiny plane to Fair Isle. Fair Isle is a magical little Island situated slightly south of the mainland. It is a migratory stopover for many bird species and there is the famous "Bird Observatory" where most visitors stayed including myself. It was featured in the BBC series "Shetland".
Fair Isle was a magical place - I spent almost a week sitting on the cliff tops amongsth the puffin colony. They were very busy feeding their youngsters and constantly zoomimg in with beak fulls of sand eels. Their antics on the ground were fascinating - peering into each others burrows and beaking with their partner each time they returned to the cliffs. The lovely pink sea thrift was just finishing while I was there and it was brilliant to see a little puffin head pop up in a sea of pink thrift!
Returning to the Shetland Mainland I joined a small group of wildlife photographers and headed north to Unst and spent many hours on Hermaness, a National Nature Reserve on the most northern extremity of the British isles with the world famous Muckle Flugga Light house as a backdrop. As well as alot more puffins we also experienced the buzz and excitement of a super northern gannet colony. The round the clock hustle and bustle roaring throughout these ‘seabird cities’ along with the raucous noise and the pungent smell of guano is truly breath taking.These gannet cities spread for nearly a mile along the cliffs facing the Atalntic Ocean. The Shetland Islands are idllically situated where the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea meet and fish stocks abound - perfect for raising feathered families!
Heading back south quite close to the capital of Lerwick; I spent a beautiful day on the cliff tops of Noss. Noss is another National Nature Reserve dominated by towering sea cliffs facing onto the North Sea - again more puffins and another massive sea bird city of gannets. One of the highlights of this trip was to photograph the gannets from a boat at the bottom of these cliffs and capture them underwater - they can hit the water at 100 kph - the images are amazing. Many thanks to Richard Shucksmith who helped us set-up and capture these very special images! His work is featured in a new BBC 1 Scotland episode called "Wild Scotland".
Fair Isle was a magical place - I spent almost a week sitting on the cliff tops amongsth the puffin colony. They were very busy feeding their youngsters and constantly zoomimg in with beak fulls of sand eels. Their antics on the ground were fascinating - peering into each others burrows and beaking with their partner each time they returned to the cliffs. The lovely pink sea thrift was just finishing while I was there and it was brilliant to see a little puffin head pop up in a sea of pink thrift!
Returning to the Shetland Mainland I joined a small group of wildlife photographers and headed north to Unst and spent many hours on Hermaness, a National Nature Reserve on the most northern extremity of the British isles with the world famous Muckle Flugga Light house as a backdrop. As well as alot more puffins we also experienced the buzz and excitement of a super northern gannet colony. The round the clock hustle and bustle roaring throughout these ‘seabird cities’ along with the raucous noise and the pungent smell of guano is truly breath taking.These gannet cities spread for nearly a mile along the cliffs facing the Atalntic Ocean. The Shetland Islands are idllically situated where the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea meet and fish stocks abound - perfect for raising feathered families!
Heading back south quite close to the capital of Lerwick; I spent a beautiful day on the cliff tops of Noss. Noss is another National Nature Reserve dominated by towering sea cliffs facing onto the North Sea - again more puffins and another massive sea bird city of gannets. One of the highlights of this trip was to photograph the gannets from a boat at the bottom of these cliffs and capture them underwater - they can hit the water at 100 kph - the images are amazing. Many thanks to Richard Shucksmith who helped us set-up and capture these very special images! His work is featured in a new BBC 1 Scotland episode called "Wild Scotland".