17. Two Scottish Islands - Handa Island and The Isle of May
Handa is a beautiful island off the north-west coast of the Highland area of Scotland boasts up to 150,000 seabirds. Its location seems to have its own weather pattern and the island is uninhabited apart from a seasonal warden and reserve volunteers. It is accessed by a ten minute ferry from the hamlet of Tarbet and its white sandy shores and clear blue waters make it appear almost tropical. The seabird colonies of puffins, guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes and fulmars are easily viewed from the top of the island where sea cliffs of the Torridonian sandstone reach over 300ft (100metres). Other notable birds which breed on the island are great and arctic skuas, stonechat, wheatear, cuckoos, twite, oystercatchers, arctic terns, common, herring and great black-backed gulls, shag, eider, red grouse, ringed plover, snipe, rock dove, meadow and rock pipit and reed bunting. Most of the divers can be seen flying or on the sea around the island and black guillemots are often seen in the bay.
Grey seals, sea otters and basking sharks plus minke whales are also seen, plus an abundance of rabbits. The speaker, who has been a volunteer on a number of occasions, spends a week at the height of the season and photographs from these visits supplement the talk. The island was inhabited until 1847 by eight families, after which many of the crofters set sail for Canada when their potato crop failed due to blight. The remains of their crofts are still visible today. The geology is also of interest and this will be discussed in the talk, together with conservation measures and bird population trends.
Off the east coast of Scotland is the Jewel of the Forth, the Isle of May; an island 300 million years old along with Bass Rock, North Berwick Law and Edinburgh's Arthur's Seat. Here throughout the Spring seabirds arrive and nest to produce a veritable feast for the ornithologist and natural history enthusiast. Puffins, Guillemots, Razorbills, Kittiwakes and Arctic terns abound. It's a stopping off site for migrant birds between wintering and breeding grounds too and researchers on the island ring or tag the birds as they wend their way to and fro.
Two lighthouses and huge fog horns plus a ruined monastery also give it an historical dimension ranging over 5000 years.
Duration 90 mins
