Our adventures in Scotland, Part 9

Our last day in Scotland was probably our best - a trip to the Isle of May to see Puffins! And what a trip it was - the weather was warm and sunny, the boat trip was excellent and the puffins were incredibly photogenic!

The boat sailed from Anstruther and we caught our first sight of puffins as we approached the island. There were also gannets and Manx Shearwaters flying around the boat. We landed at a tiny inlet, and then had to run the gauntlet of the nesting terns before reaching starting point for walking round the island. We had a lovely walk round the island and saw lots of puffins, though they were mostly too far away to get decent photographs. However, Bev struck off along a narrower path and came out at a point high above the cliffs where there were hundreds of puffins. These puffins were nesting in the burrows by the cliffs, so both Bev and Paul got lots of closeup shots of the puffins with sand eels in their beaks.

We bears loved the trip to the island - we ran along the paths, peeked in the puffin burrows to say hello to the pufflings and generally had a great time. Then it was time to say cheerio to the puffins and head back to the mainland - the 3 or 4 hours on the island had whizzed past and we still hadn't got any shots of the gannets or other birds on the island. This trip is highly recommended, and both Bev and Paul would do it again!