Scottish Seabird Centre 

 Birds, East Lothian Coastline  No Responses »
Feb 212024
 

The Harbour, Harbour Terrace, North Berwick, EH39 4SS 

Stone building with an angular roof up a driveway and set right on the coast; blue skies and water in the background.
The Scottish Seabird Centre
©Edward McMaihin, Geograph

The Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick is a conservation charity and visitor centre, dedicated to the research and protection of seabird wildlife on The Bass Rock, as well as across the Firth of Forth, and further afield. The most iconic are the local colonies of puffins, pelagic seabirds with brightly coloured beaks that feed primarily by diving in the water. These unique birds can be found on many of the uninhabited islands in the Firth of Forth.

The Scottish Seabird Centre was opened by a team of local ornithologists in May 2000. Their goal was to use technologies, such as webcams, to enable locals to witness life on the surrounding seabird colonies in the Firth of Forth without disturbing the wildlife. The Centre not only has a role in sharing knowledge and interest for the marine wildlife, but also participates in its conservation by running several projects like recruiting volunteers to protect the puffins from invasive plant species on the island of Craigleith and cleaning the North Berwick beaches.

Rocky island with green foliage; dark blue waters in the foreground and light blue skies in the background.
The Island of Craigleith
©Mark Anderson, Geograph

The webcams in the Seabird Centre facilitate viewing from afar a kittiwake colony in Dunbar, the gannets of Bass Rock, and the puffins of Craigleith Island and the Isle of May. The Centre is also the departure point for boat trips to some islands of the Firth of Forth which are home to many seabird species (Bass Rock, Craigleith, the Lamb and the Isle of May). 

Tens of grey and white birds nesting on a grey rock cliff.
A busy colony of kittiwakes nesting on a cliff
©Julie St. Louis, PIXNIO

Sources:

Individual Researcher Walk; Scottish Seabird Centre (webpage)

Additional Links:

  • https://www.seabird.org/ (The Scottish Seabird Centre website for links to the webcam and current conservation projects)

Bass Rock 

 Birds  No Responses »
Feb 212024
 
Large rock at sea with a white building on one cliff; a white sailboat is visible in the foreground amidst blue seas and skies.
The Bass Rock, covered by nesting Gannets
©Ben Clarke, Wikimedia Commons

Bass Rock is an uninhabited island which lies in the Firth of Forth off North Berwick. Despite its rocky landscape, it was a royal jail in the 17th century, nicknamed the ‘Scottish Alcatraz’. Sold to the Hamilton-Dalrymple family, it was then used as a seabird hunting ground, a sheep grazing area, and a site to collect eggs or fish.

Profile photo of a white and brown bird in flight that has some tan coloring on its head.
A Northern Gannet
©jacme31, Wikimedia Commons

It is now a nature reserve, home to more than 150,000 birds and the world’s largest colony of Northern Gannets. The scientific name of gannets Morus Bassanus derives from the Bass Rock and its key role for gannet populations. In fact, the Gannets of Bass Rock faced a dramatic decline in 2022 due to the highly pathogenic avian influenza which killed more than 5,000 birds on the island.

The Bass Rock’ distinctive shape and interesting past inspired many works of fiction, from Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Lion Is Rampant by Ross Laidlaw, Tge New Confessions by William Boyd and the 2021 Stella Prize-winning The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld. Though access is restricted as not to disturb the nesting birds, the Bass Rock can be visited by a number of boat tours from North Berwick.

Sources:

Individual Researcher Walk; Scottish Seabird Centre; The Scotsman

Additional Links:

The Isle of May National Nature Reserve 

 Birds  No Responses »
Feb 212024
 

Isle of May Nature Reserve, Anstruther KY10 3XB 

Stone lighthouse on a green rocky hill with gulls in the foreground and grey skies in the background.
The Stevenson Lighthouse on the Isle of May
©Magnus Hagdorn, Wikimedia Commons

As of 1956, the Isle of May is one of Scotland’s 45 National Nature Reserves and belongs to NatureScot. The island is only accessible by boats which depart from each side of the Firth of Forth (North Berwick or Anstruther) and visitors can stay only 2.5 hours on land in order to minimize disturbance to the colony. A warden, assistant warden, volunteers and several researchers monitoring many aspects of the local wildlife live for up to 9 months a year on the island.

Profile photo of two black and white puffins with red-orange beaks and feet standing on a rock against a blue backdrop.
Two Atlantic Puffins
©rawpixel.com

Notably, the island is home to the biggest Scottish puffin colony! From cliff-breeding seabirds such as guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, fulmars to cormorants, Arctic terns or sea ducks such as Eiders, the island boasts many observable species. The island is also famous for its lighthouses. One was built in 1816 by Robert Stevenson, architect of many Scottish lighthouses and grandfather of the writer Robert Louis Stevenson; the other was built in 1843 and has now converted into a bird observatory.

Six brown and white birds sitting on a rocky ledge covered in white guano.
A group of Common Guillemots
©Boaworm, Wikimedia Commons

Sources: Individual Researcher Walk; NatureScot; Isle of May National Nature Reserve’s blog

Additional Links:

The Isle of May Bird Observatory 

 Birds  No Responses »
Feb 162024
 

Isle of May Nature Reserve, Anstruther KY10 3XB 

White lighthouse on a rocky coastline with greens in the foreground and blue skies and sea in the background.
The Isle of May Bird Observatory
©Wikimedia Commons

Founded in 1934 in one of the two lighthouses of the island, the Isle of May Bird Observatory is Scotland’s oldest bird observatory. The Isle of May was and still is a key location for the study of birds, particularly the understanding of bird migration. It is notably where the two ornithologists and founders of the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club, Evelyn V. Baxter and Leonora J. Rintoul, conducted fundamental work in the early 20th century to study birds’ migration. You can learn more about their findings in the 1918 publication ‘The Birds of the Isle of May: a migration study’ in the journal from the British Ornithologists’ Union. The observatory is still running today and contributes to the monitoring of birds migrating over Scotland. 

Sources:

Individual Researcher Walk; Isle of May Bird Observatory; Scottish Seabird Centre; Scottish Ornithologists’ Club

Additional Links:

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