Author Archives: David Steel

Thursday 22nd June comments: I make no apologises for it, as today’s blog post is all about one bird; Puffins. The island supports one of the largest populations in the UK (over 40,000 pairs) and if you want to see … Continue reading →

Monday 19th June comments: Its jumpling time! Seabirds have different strategies for nesting and raising young and the cliff nesting auks; Guillemot and Razorbill are very unique in their style of raising a chick. Guillemots will lay a single egg but … Continue reading →

Saturday 17th June comments: We are at the peak of the seabird season on the island as the majority of species now have chicks (only Fulmar still to go which will happen in early July). Parents are now actively foraging … Continue reading →

Wednesday 14th June comments: New life. Yesterday we welcomed our first Arctic Tern chick into the world as ‘nest number one’ hatched much to the joy of the parents and everyone who witnessed it. Over the next few weeks more and more chicks will … Continue reading →

Tuesday 13th June comments: Its not every day we add a new nesting species to the island list, but today we confirmed the first nesting of Cormorants on the Isle of May. Small numbers breed on other Firth of Forth … Continue reading →

Monday 12th June comments: Seabirds, like many birds can respond well to active management and in recent years on the Isle of May NNR we’ve been doing our bit for the nesting terns on the island. In one area of … Continue reading →

Sunday 11th June comments: We are deep into the Count Season as we undertake our annual counts of the seabird populations on the Isle of May. Today the team went about counting all the ground nesting terns, watching every step … Continue reading →