Day 4: Oystercatchers and Puffins

I was excited this morning because not only was this my first chance to start to explore the Fair Isle but the weather was fine and sunny....for the moment. I packed some sandwiches and a flask and we set off towards the light house. There are birds flying all around and at such high speeds around the steep dark cliffs, that is not always easy to identify them. 

Oystercatchers are everywhere. You will probably recognise them as they often live in fields or on moorland. They are very distinctive, they have bright reddish pink legs, an orange- red bill and black and white feathers, but there most distinctive feature is their call (look this up). When they fly you can see a big white V shape across their wings. They eat cockles (a small shellfish)by hammering the shells with their flattened end of their beak or prising them open. Read more about them here 

This is what I saw



We stopped for lunch. The sun was shining and the sea was a beautiful blue colour. I could see seals looking at us from the water. They are very inquisitive animals and will pop their heads out of the water and have a good look at what you are doing. I think they may be wondering what a cheese sandwich tastes like! The afternoon was a bit wet so we headed back to the croft. The dark clouds rolled in off the sea the and wind increased but Fair Isle still looked beautiful. 

The weather cleared in the evening, so we went out for a walk. This turned out to be one of the best moments of the holiday so far and, perhaps one that will be hard to beat. We walked to a cliff edge not far from the cottage in fact you can see it from the lounge window. As we got to the top I realised there were Puffins looking back down at us. We approached very slowing, without any sudden movements and were able to get quite close. It is important not to disturb the birds, but they seemed untroubled by our presence. We sat quietly down and watched....and watched. It seemed that the puffins were as inquisitive as the seals and they gradually came towards us. I bet they thought we looked very funny! 

Puffins really beautiful and very cute birds. They spend the winter out at sea but in the spring they return to their burrows (a bit like rabbit burrows) to breed: their chicks are called pufflings. Puffins are sometimes known as sea parrots because of their brightly coloured beaks. Their beaks are amazing. To feed, they dive for fish for up to 60m and ircan hold many fish at the same time because the beaks have a serrated edge to keep them in. Can  you see Chris's boot at the bottom of the photo?


Chris took a video of the Puffins - see the link below. 

Follow this link to see what they look like close-up

Can you find anything else about Puffins and Oystercatchers?



 


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