| Wandering Birder| Europe 2003 | Orkney Islands | Page 2 /2 |
Scotland Shetland Islands
Orkney Island |
 Great Skua |
.Night Ferry to Shetland Island
You can take a ferry to the Shetland Islands from either Aberdeen, Scotland or the Orkney Islands. Unfortunately both leave in the evening and sail all night so there is no chance for seabirds. The ferry is a huge boat with elevators, staterooms, gambling and dining rooms. The ferry leaves from the Orkney Islands at 11:45 PM. I paid extra to have a bunk in a shared dormitory for 4 women with a full bath. There was one empty bed. One woman was already asleep having boarded earlier in Aberdeen. I went right to bed. The third young woman dumped her stuff and disappeared. She returned at 4 AM drunk, noisy and accompanied by two young men. The guys were planning to sleep in the empty bunk. I knew they didn't have a ticket for a bunk in female room so I told them emphatically to get out or I would call the steward. They acted amazed that anyone would be so unreasonable, but they did leave and we got to sleep until 6 AM when a gong woke us up for a buffet breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, hashbrowns for 5.40£. For more money you can obtain a private room or a room for a couple. I did not run into this kind of behavior in any of the hostels and I reported the young woman to the steward the next morning as it was her fault for letting the boys into the room. She was still asleep when I got up for breakfast, but gone when I returned to pick up my stuff.
The ferry docked in Lerwick and I treated myself to a taxi to the hostel which turned out to be one of the best hostels in all of Europe.Lucky for me the two guys I kicked out of the room the night before were not at the hostel. I rented a car for 3 days for 89£. (It would have be best to arrange for the rental cars ahead of time as I was lucky to get one on both the Orkneys and the Shetlands.) It was the first week of August and while late in the season for seabird colonies, it is the height of the tourist season in the Shetlands.
Sumburgh Head Nature Reserve
Like the Orkneys, the Shetlands are a group of several islands connected by car ferries. Sumburgh Head is on the main island with the city of Lerwick. It is possible to base yourself in Lerwick and drive to most of the islands. Ferry schedules will limit the time you have on the more remote islands. There are also other hostels at which you can stay on the other islands.
At a small quarry on the road up to the reserve parking lot there was a small colony of Fulmars nesting on the rock cliffs. They had large fluffy babies with huge bills. From the parking lot there is a sea lookout. I see many Great Skuas, a single Arctic Skua (Parasitic Jaeger) and Fulmars.
You can walk up to the lighthouse and sit at several places looking at the cliffs. There are nesting Fulmars, Puffins, Guillemots. I observed two Fulmars at close range with glistening drops of salt water on their bills. Fulmars are not gulls, but tubenoses with glands for filtering salt water.
Below the reserve is Jarlshof a site occupied by humans for 4000 years. Excavation has uncovered evidence for occupation by both Stone Age and Bronze Age cultures. Later the Vikings occupied the site and eventually medieval farmers settled here and built their dwellings on top of the ruins. I spent several hours touring the site and the small museum. There are probably as many ancient sites in the Shetlands as in the Orkneys, but less time and money has been spent on excavations and developing the sites for tourism. Across the road a second site is still being excavated and you can tour it and watch the archeologists at work. Excavating such sites is tedious, muddy work.
Hermaness National Nature Reserve on Unst
Highlight of the Shetlands for a birder is the National Nature Reserve of Hermaness. To reach Unst Island you first take a ferry to the island of Yell, drive the length of the island and then take the ferry to Unst. The reserve is on the far north end of the island and the roads are narrow and not well signposted. I was able to follow the signs to the reserve, but trying to get back to the ferry was very frustrating since there were no signs. Try to remember your turns for the way out or better yet make notes as there are several turns. You should see the Shetland Ponies in pastures along the way. It is a beautiful and enjoyable drive with almost no traffic. Of course that means when you get lost there is no one to ask for directions.
On reaching the reserve go first to the last parking lot and climb the steep trail to the Visitors Center. Here you will find toilets and a small museum. Then go back to the first parking lot for the trail to the Puffin cliff.
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After a steep start, the trail to the Puffin cliffs is a
relatively flat, sometimes muddy path and boardwalk across a peat bog. The bog
was formed by 7,000 years of accumulated vegetation and is an experience in
itself. The trail is about 3 KM long and ends at the cliffs where even in early
August you can see Puffins. I came for the Great Skuas and I began seeing them in the air as soon as I parked the car. Several pairs glide over my head. They make a clicking noise while flying that sounds like ACK ACK ACK Meadow Pipits chip as well. |
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About half way to the cliffs, I enter the area
of the Great Skua colony. Skuas stand on little rises and watch my progress.
Here a Great Skua raises its wings in an aggressive display because I am too
close. Most human traffic on the path is headed for the cliffs so few people linger along the way. The Skuas seem adjusted to the traffic. I stayed on the path, but stopped to watch the birds and to take pictures with my small camera. I saw one big chick chasing its parents. The nesting season is nearly over and the parents seemed to be ignoring the chicks pleas. |
I copied these statistics on the Great Skua from a display in
the Visitor Center.
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Fifty percent of the world population of Great Skua live in
the Shetland Islands. They feed on Sand Eels, fishing waste, Kittiwakes, and
Puffins. Great Skua establish their colonies near the cliff colonies of Kittiwakes and Puffins. Preying on the ever popular Puffins does not endear the skuas to the average observer here to see the Puffins. Unst may just be the best place in the world to observe the Great Skua. Access to the colony is easy. There are good places to stay and there is other birding as well. This shot has at least 5 skuas. I had wonderful looks at Red-throated Loon with babies on the way back. |
Other Birds at Hermanness
Statistics from my notes taken in the museum at Hermanness.
| Gannets | 12,000 pairs |
| Fulmars | 14,000 |
| Puffins | |
| Guillemots | 20,000 |
| Razorbills | 1,000 |
| Kittiwake | 1,000 |
| Shags | 400 |
Mousa Island
Mousa is a small island just off the coast of the main island and an easy drive from Lerwick. There is an interesting broch in which the British Storm-petrel nests. One of the big disappointments of the entire trip was that never did I see a British Storm-petrel.
Tom Jamieson info@mousaboattrips.co.uk or www.mousaboattrips.co.uk runs a boat trip to Mousa. From May to July there is an evening boat that leaves at 11 PM and returns at 1 AM. With a torch (flashlight) you walk to the broch to see the Storm-petrels entering and leaving their nests. After the first of July it stays light much longer and he does not make the night trips.
On August 3, I went on a day trip which left at 12:30 in the afternoon and returned at 5 PM. We walked to the broch which is an Iron Age structure unique to Scotland. A broch is a short double walled tower with a staircase between the walls. Archeologist are not quite sure why they were built or what they were for. I climbed to the top and on the way up heard one of the Storm-petrels making a soft purring noise within the wall.
I walked the path around the island seeing: 3 Great Skuas chasing a tern, Great Black-backed Gull, Arctic Skua, Arctic Terns, Guillemots, Oystercatcher, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Grey and Common Seals, Rock Pipet, Carrion Crow, Wheatear
Three days was not enough for the Shetlands. You should allow at least five days and it is really worth a week. If I were to go again I would spend several nights at the hostel on Unst and I would come in June.
The End
| Wandering Birder| Europe 2003 |