There are plenty of islands around to visit but our favourite place is a very quiet, peaceful and remote location – Shetland Islands. This year we decided to spend some time in Fair Isle which is the most remote inhabited island in the United Kingdom. It has some stunning views and a very healthy population of Atlantic puffins what was very important for us.
Fair Isle can be reached from the Shetland mainland either by a cargo ship Good Shepherd IV for 12 passengers or by 8 - seater “Islander” aircraft. For more adventurous journey we have chosen a ferry. Looking back we can say that it was not clever at all… There were plenty of moments when we thought: “Are we going to reach the Isle or we just faint or even die”. Seasickness turned our trip to a pure misery. It was three hours of torture. When we felt the ground under our feet the first words were: “We are not going back to Mainland by ferry. We could pay £1000 for the plane ticket if need but nobody will put us back to “Good Shepherd ”. Obviously we booked plane tickets for our return trip.
With the return journey sorted and stomachs getting happier our full attention was focused on adorable puffins - “little brothers of the north" as their Latin name “Fratercula arctica” means.
The main puffin colonies are located in the North of Fair Isle. As we stayed in South Lighthouse it meant we had to walk ~ 2.5 miles each way, which to be honest we quite enjoyed; especially very early mornings in cool and mystic atmosphere.
Fair Isle is not the warmest and sunniest place. With the average 136 hours (~ 6 days) of sun in July we were very lucky to have beautiful golden light, great sunrises and sunsets.
Atlantic Puffins are true seabirds considering they spend most of their lives at sea, returning to land at the start of the breeding season in late spring. The birds line their nest, which are at the end of the burrow, with grasses, seaweed and feathers. Of course all the necessary material is carried in the beak.
We are not sure what this puffin intended to do with a bone but other puffins seemed to be interested in it too…
Puffins raise one chick at a time and feed it up to eight times daily. Obviously it is a very busy season for them.
Puffins with a mouthful of sand eels mean only one good thing - pufflings will not stay hungry.
To be honest once we doubted if a puffin chick will be able to swallow a huge fish which was proudly carried by a parent to the underground burrow...
During the middle of the day the life in the colony is quiet; some puffins spend time preening, others are down in the burrows or out at sea feeding, some stand by their burrow entrances and interact with other birds.
Pairs of puffins strengthen their bond by preening each other and tossing their heads.
Puffin colonies vary. Some are easy approachable, others are difficult to reach but it’s always a big pleasure to watch them and to be with them.
Photographing puffins in flight is very challenging as in the air they flap their wings more than 400 times per minute and fly up to 55 mph. With fast lens, good wind direction and manual setting quite good results can be achieved.
The days we spent with cute puffins were full of joy. They always bring smile to our faces and it’s such a pleasure to photograph such a charismatic bird.
As it was part of our journey in Shetlands islands, we flew to enjoy the rest of the time in and around Lerwick. A return journey was much more fun than coming to Fair Isle not to mention the fact that the flight was delayed 3 hours. It was amazing how the island with high rocks simply disappeared in the mist; everything was gone – sea, birds, moors, cliffs... This sense of wilderness and freedom will always draw us back to Shetland Islands.