Scotland has a coastline of over 16,000 km including off-shore islands; we visited a few including the Island of Noss in the Shetlands. There we spent a wonderful few hours out on the sea in a zodiac with 8 other people cutting through quite sizeable waves and swells cloaked in a fine blanket of fog. Sheer cliffs towering above us were nesting and resting places for thousands of gannets, guillemots, puffins, fulmar, Black-backed gulls, skuas, cormorants and shags. A constant chattering followed us as we slowing made our way along the cliff face towards the Noup of Noss! What a crazy name.
It is a high rocky headland dropping over 100 metres vertically into the roiling sea on which we were bobbing up and down. Balanced on our quite bouncy perches on the edge of our black rubber duckies, we craned our necks this way and that watching huge flocks of birds constantly circling above us in the fog. It was truly awesome - but I seem to have a permanently stiff neck!
Many if the birds were as curious of us as we were of them and flew in for a closer look. One passenger copped many ‘bird blessings’ and we reckoned it was his hat - it looked a bit like a target.
That day on both morning and afternoon excursions our zodiac skippers had to use handheld GPS devices to find our way back to the mother ship. ‘Interesting’ experience driving through fog on a vast sea of heaving waves to finally and thankfully see the ship slowly emerge out of the dense blanket of invisibility. We all collectively let our out breath!
Noup of Noss was just around that headland which incidental was cut off from the rest of the island by a cliff collapse.
These are common guillemots. One of my favourites. Actually most of them are my favourites!
This is Jim who copped many ‘bird blessings’ and we reckoned it was his hat - it looked a bit like a target. Some of us got a few little splashes but Jim copped the mother loads! The boat in the background were actually feeding the birds - bad practice!
This is a great skua. They are quite magnificent but very aggressive. They hassle the birds in the air to drop their fish. Like the frigate birds. But they also attack and kill birds of all sizes. This guy reckoned we were going to feed him - he hung around for a while.
We managed to get very close to this community but we’re careful not to spook them.
Most of these are gannets
Most of the birds were as curious about us as we were of them.
A bit fuzzy (we were bobbing up and down on the waves) but these gannets are sitting on nests made of scraps of seaweed and anything else they found such as fishing nets and lines.
We nosed into a narrow gap in the cliff to explore and found calm crystal clear water with waving kelp fanning the rocks and surface. Also saw anemones, star fish and large jellyfish enjoying the gentle lapping of this quiet hidey hole.
This is Heidi the ship’s naturalist, one of our guides and zodiac driver for that excursion. When we came back out to open sea the kayakers paddled in. One couple were in their mid to late 70s and had never kayaked before and were inspiring. They didn’t look like the sporty type, but had taken a lesson before they left home!
No comments:
Post a Comment