Fair Isle, Scotland
Fair Isle is Britain’s most isolated, inhabited island, with only 70 human residents, hundreds of sheep, and thousands and thousands of land and seabirds. Today many of us were lucky enough to get ashore to visit the small community, say hello to the locals, have some wonderful tea and scones, and even shop for the well-known Fair Isle sweaters. For the rest of us, a Zodiac cruise was offered along the famous bird cliffs of the island.
On the Zodiac tour, we saw many, young, grey and common (harbor) seals hauled out on the rocks all along the coastline or frolicking in the placid waters of the small coves and inlets, but the myriad of seabirds dominated the island’s scenery. Kittiwakes were squawking away on their nesting sites with their tell-tale calls “KIT-TI-WAKE!! KIT-TI-WAKE!!” while herring gulls perched above them, always alert for an abandoned egg. The ubiquitous northern fulmars were occupying nearly every ledge where they could land, and where fulmars were pushed out, the common and “bridled” form of the guillemots were packed side by side. Oystercatchers, shags and black guillemots were also seen in smaller numbers scattered around the shoreline and in the surf. On top of the island were our old friends the puffins, which burrow into the turf, as well as the Arctic terns and Arctic skuas, aggressive birds, which nests in the open, grassy fields.
The bird of the day, however, had to be the beautiful black and white razorbill (pictured here among the wildflowers), a member of the Alcidae, or Auk family. Their modern-day scientific name is Alca torda, where “Alca” is from the Old Norse word “alke” which the Vikings used for the razorbill. Incidentally, it was actually the Vikings who discovered Fair Isle, or “Far Isle” as they called it. “Torda” comes from both the Swedish name “tordmule” and the German name “tordalk” for the razorbill. The English word “razorbill” is appropriate because of their characteristic heavy, dark-black bill which is squared off at the tip and has a sharp, thin, white line from the front of the eye to the base of the bill and another white line across the tip of the bill from top to bottom.
We watched as hundreds upon hundreds of these comical seabirds crowded the cliffs, fighting for space on the ledges, courting, mating and “castanetting”, a term used for incubating behaviour with imaginary eggs! Many of them were, in fact, on eggs up higher on the sides of the cliffs, but the non-breeding, younger juveniles were down lower near the water, and it was these birds with whom we became familiar. They are striking birds to say the least, especially when we saw them at close range in bright sunshine!
Fair Isle is Britain’s most isolated, inhabited island, with only 70 human residents, hundreds of sheep, and thousands and thousands of land and seabirds. Today many of us were lucky enough to get ashore to visit the small community, say hello to the locals, have some wonderful tea and scones, and even shop for the well-known Fair Isle sweaters. For the rest of us, a Zodiac cruise was offered along the famous bird cliffs of the island.
On the Zodiac tour, we saw many, young, grey and common (harbor) seals hauled out on the rocks all along the coastline or frolicking in the placid waters of the small coves and inlets, but the myriad of seabirds dominated the island’s scenery. Kittiwakes were squawking away on their nesting sites with their tell-tale calls “KIT-TI-WAKE!! KIT-TI-WAKE!!” while herring gulls perched above them, always alert for an abandoned egg. The ubiquitous northern fulmars were occupying nearly every ledge where they could land, and where fulmars were pushed out, the common and “bridled” form of the guillemots were packed side by side. Oystercatchers, shags and black guillemots were also seen in smaller numbers scattered around the shoreline and in the surf. On top of the island were our old friends the puffins, which burrow into the turf, as well as the Arctic terns and Arctic skuas, aggressive birds, which nests in the open, grassy fields.
The bird of the day, however, had to be the beautiful black and white razorbill (pictured here among the wildflowers), a member of the Alcidae, or Auk family. Their modern-day scientific name is Alca torda, where “Alca” is from the Old Norse word “alke” which the Vikings used for the razorbill. Incidentally, it was actually the Vikings who discovered Fair Isle, or “Far Isle” as they called it. “Torda” comes from both the Swedish name “tordmule” and the German name “tordalk” for the razorbill. The English word “razorbill” is appropriate because of their characteristic heavy, dark-black bill which is squared off at the tip and has a sharp, thin, white line from the front of the eye to the base of the bill and another white line across the tip of the bill from top to bottom.
We watched as hundreds upon hundreds of these comical seabirds crowded the cliffs, fighting for space on the ledges, courting, mating and “castanetting”, a term used for incubating behaviour with imaginary eggs! Many of them were, in fact, on eggs up higher on the sides of the cliffs, but the non-breeding, younger juveniles were down lower near the water, and it was these birds with whom we became familiar. They are striking birds to say the least, especially when we saw them at close range in bright sunshine!
