Adventure to Puffin Island

Walking track

Puffins!

Fog horn is massive

Idyllic

Puffin

Puffin

Our boat

Gannets at Bass Rock

Excitement is at fever pitch in room 150 this morning, I am organising my backpack for Puffin Island and Jane is getting her change sorted for the bus to Roslyn Chapel. Hop, skip and jump and I am at the train station trying to figure out where to buy a ticket and which platform for the train to North Berwick. Its all pretty logical and before I know it I am on my way along with lots and lots of other people, seems like with the hot weather everyone has decided to go to the beach today. 

North Berwick station is a lot smaller than I expected, glad I brought some lunch with me. From the map it looks like I go down the main road to walk to Seabird Centre but there is a beach just over there, its so sunny, detour. How idyllic is this little town. Islands are dotted around, later I learn the littlest one with the lighthouse is Fidra Island, Robert Louis Stevenson’s inspiration for Treasure Island.

My objective today is to see one puffin, fingers and toes all crossed. Safety briefing done, lifejacket on and we are on our way. ‘Puffin’ goes the shout and everyone looks to the side of the boat. We have not even gone 50 metres and there is a puffin swimming along by the breakwater. They are not even meant to be this close to the coast.

Whizzing along a high speed we are on way to the Isle of May, a reserve for birds managed by Natural Heritage Scotland. Its 10 miles out in the North Sea but the time goes by in a flash and we are ready to land. Only a limited number of people are able to land each year so I am lucky to be able to visit

Our knowledgeable guide James takes us on a walking tour of the island, I don’t know which way to turn first Arctic terns (from Antartica) are dive bombing, Herring and Great black-backed gulls are squawking and best of all 100’s of puffins are zooming by with fish in their mouths to feed the pufflings (baby puffins) in their burrows. 

We head up the track and around the cliffs, over dale and under bridges, up to the lighthouse, around the dam, by the research stations and even see a fog horn, its big! All the while the puffins and lots of birds surround us. Its an immersive experience and quite overwhelming with camera and go pro I go beyond frenzy level.

Eventually, James leaves us and we are free to continue exploring I know exactly the spot I want to go back to and spend ages watching the puffins launch mid flight straight into their burrows to avoid the gulls trying to steal their fish. They fly so fast they make a whooshing noise when they go over my head. Finally, I calm down enough to stop jumping around and sit and fully take in this amazing spectacle of nature. 

All too quickly its time to head back to the boat. All aboard and the first thing we see is a grey seal waving to us as we leave the shore. James has another spectacle in store for us. On the way back we visit Bass Rock, the largest gannet colony in the world. Its impossible to describe the noise, smell and sheer energy of 250,000 gannets swirling around your head. Fantastic!

Finally back to base, time for a quick pizza washed down with Elderflower drink and a long over-excitable catch up on our days.