Local Bird Life
The local rock in Northeast Caithness is a layered mudstone, which is eroded by the sea into vertical cliffs and sea stacks with abundant ledges which provide ideal breeding sites for a host of seabirds. The cliffs are too vertical to see much from the top, which is dangerous to approach anyway.
In the breeding season, hundreds of Guillemots crowd the lower ledges and shag nest in caves, while Fulmars and Kittiwakes nest higher up on the cliffs. You can’t get very close to the birds from the land and of course most of them remain out of sight on the cliffs. However, when you approach by sea, you can then see what you have been missing!! The sheer numbers of seabirds, coupled with the noise and the smell of guano is staggering.
The water is usually very clear, so when guillemots and razorbills dive they are clearly visible flying under water in ‘shoals’ around the boat. The shag swim using their feet, but are harder to see in the water because of their dark colour. The birds see the boat every day and pretty well ignore it if we don’t get too close.
The pictures on the right were taken using an 80mm lens, which gives an idea of how close we can go without frightening the birds!
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
