Puffins on Scotland's Isle of May
Take a day trip in Fife to a stunning seabird colony
Everybody loves puffins, with their stubby wings and technicolor beaks. And one of the best places to see them is on the Isle of May, in Scotland. All 100,000 of them!
If you have a hankering to watch thousands of brightly-beaked puffins congregate on clifftops, there’s no better place than the Isle of May, on Scotland’s east coast.
An hour-long ferry ride from Anstruther takes you to a sanctuary whose cliffs, from April to July, become high-rise havens for nesting seabirds. Not just a few, mind you: around 200,000 manage to cram themselves into a space that you can throughly explore on foot in just one hour. It’s an avian Hong Kong, minus the shopping.
You’ll also see terns, kittiwakes, shags, guillemots and razorbills, but they’re supporting players in this puffin-fest. Even the seals know better than to compete, and save their peak breeding time for later in the year.
It’s easy to spot them in the air. While their co-habitants coast along with effortless, lazy flaps of their wings, the puffins make it look like hard work. Maybe it’s because their wings have a stubbiness that brings to mind those of penguins (who know better than to try to fly with them). Apparently they’re expert swimmers though, so at least there’s a trade-off for the lack of aerial grace.
But with puffins, of course, it’s all about the beak. They may look like they’ve run into the back of a bus, but it’s precisely the unusual shape and colour that gives them their exotic look. Strangely, though, it isn’t permanent: catch a glimpse of a puffin out of breeding season, and they’ll be sporting a drab brown beak. It seems humans aren’t the only species that takes more care with its dress when there’s the chance of a bit of procreation.
A National Nature Reserve since 1965, facilities on the Isle of May are basic. A visitor centre and shop greets arrivals from the boat, but the only other buildings are associated with the history of the island. A beacon, so to speak, for lighthouses, it became the site of one of the first lighthouses in Britain in 1635. Not overly effective (ships were wrecked after mistaking the lights of lime kilns onshore for the shipping signal) it was superseded in 1816 by a much grander structure, built by Scotland’s lord of the lighthouse, Robert Stevenson. Yet another followed to enhance the service, as well as two stocky white Heath Robinson-esque towers fitted with fog horns.
So what will you need for your visit? A camera is a must, as is an umbrella: the terns by the dock won’t like you trying to disembark, and covering your head could save it from a nasty peck. But when the payoff is puffins by the thousands, you’ll find it’s worth the risk.
Anstruther Pleasure Trips runs cruises to the Isle of May on the May Princess daily, from April to September. Departure times vary - see www.isleofmayferry.com for details.
