Boat Trip To Craigleith and Bass Rock : 15 Jul 2011

Boat Trip To Craigleith and Bass Rock : 15 Jul 2011

We went up to Scotland in the middle of July to visit relatives but I was also aware that there was only another week or so to go before the Puffins would leave the islands in the Firth of Forth off the east coast of Scotland and then they would be out in the open sea for another year. In order to get really good views of thousands of Puffins we would have to go to the Isle of May but the Bass Rock was the first place on our itinerary.  The boat trips to both islands are run by the Scottish Seabird Centre.

Bass Rock is an amazing place itself and not to be missed. It is one of the largest  Gannetries in Britain being home to around 150,000 Gannets each year. The Gannets arrive around late February to early March and those that bred last year on the Rock will pair up again and start nesting and producing their one egg. This will go on every year until one of them dies when the other bird may take up another partner. By October the juveniles will leave the Rock and set off for the western coast of Africa. For these juveniles it will be a couple of years before they return to the Bass Rock to start nesting and mating on their own account but the adults will return again the following January to start all over again.

We had been to the Bass Rock the previous year but that had been in mid April when the birds were just beginning to get their nests sorted out and their small patch of the rock marked out. Then there had been no sight of eggs or chicks  yet – as far as we could see. This time we hoped to see some young.

Previously we had made the trip in a RIB (rigid inflatable boat) which is a really fast boat that gets you out to the island in no time at all although you do have to don waterproofs and face the waves cascading over the boat from time to time. This time we were on a more sedate type of boat that you could walk around in a little bit and which made more stately progress to the rock. This meant that we had rather less time at the island than previously and the weather conditions meant that we could not get quite as close as we had done previously. The tour guide was the highly experienced  Maggie Sheddan  who we had had before and who gives a good talk on the island and its birds.

The boat sailed out to Craigleith island first where we got our first glimpses of Puffins on the water. As we approached the island we could see a seal and lots more Puffins on the rocks as well as plenty of Cormorants, and some Great Black-backed Gulls.  As we rounded the island and headed for Bass Rock we started to see dozens of Gannets some flying very low along the water just dipping their wing tips into the sea and others flying higher  up in the air. A little distance away another boat was throwing “chum” overboard to attract the Gannets and they were massed over the boat in their hundreds looking for an easy meal. In exchange the photographers on the boat got the opportunity of a lifetime to get their best shots of Gannets diving.

As you approach the island the fine white mist you have seen rising of the top of the Rock begins to transform itself into a multitude of distinct particles – each particle a Gannet ; it is only then that you start to get a proper idea of just how many birds there are !  As well as Gannets there are Guillemots, Razorbills, Puffins, Fulmars, Shags, Kittiwakes, Herring Gulls, Lesser Black-backs, Great Black-backed Gulls and Eiders although you may not always see all of these on each visit. By this time of the year a lot of the Guillemots have already left the island and the same with the Eiders. They do say that you do not get Cormorants on the Bass Rock but I’m sure I got photographs of Cormorants not Shags – although with the juveniles it is even more confusing than with the adults.

As we returned to North Berwick harbour we encountered lots of birds – Guillemots and Puffins and Gannets skimming across the water looking for a meal. At the harbour we disembarked and just as we were heading off for a cup of tea we looked up at the gutters of the building we were walking past and there were three newly fledged Swallows being fed by their parent. Around the harbour there were House Sparrows, Pied Wagtails and Starlings and overhead Swifts swooped and screeched as if not to be outdone by their more pelagic relatives.

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