Highlights of Scotland

Seabirds on the Isle of May
part 2

"The Isle of May is a nature reserve with a colony of grey seals and thousands of breeding birds including puffins, razorbills, kittiwakes, guillemots, eider ducks, shags and terns, as well as the remains fo a 12th-century chapel." [From: Touring Guide to Scotland, issued by the Scottish Tourist Board.]
This page shows birds somewhat closer by, part 1 shows cliffs with birds.
I'm not sure of the names of the birds: if I'm wrong, please let me know.

Here's more info in the Isle of May, including how to get there.

Click on the pictures for a larger version


I had identified the three birds in the foreground as kittiwakes, but Hallgeir B. Skjelstad (hallskje@online.no) informed me that I am wrong -- Hallgeir writes:

I checked your pictures from the Isle of May, and found that the foreground birds in pic. no. 1 are mis-identified as kittiwakes. The kittiwake has black legs and light, bluish grey, black-tipped wings, while the birds in foreground of your pictures are dark-winged and yellow legged, which means they are lesser black-backed gulls. (The great black-backed has pinkish-grey legs and more white in the wing-tip).


Two guillemots.


Puffins; they didn't want me to come closer.

English and Dutch names of some birds


     eider duck = eidereend
     fulmar     = noordse stormvogel
     guillemot  = zeekoet
     kittiwake  = drieteenmeeuw
     puffin     = papagaaiduiker
     razorbill  = alk
     shag       = gekuifde aalscholver
     tern       = visdiefje, stern

This map (17 kb) shows with a red square where these three photos were taken; date: 6 July 1996.

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last modified: 8 March 2000