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EnezGreen » Îles & Archipels » Scotland » Navigation and wildlife observation in the Shiant Archipelago
Scotland

Navigation and wildlife observation in the Shiant Archipelago

Atlantic Ocean

Shiants sailing
Shiants-islands

Protected Marine Area

A true paradise for the observation of sea birds and mammals and a few safe moorings in breathtaking scenery with a promise of adventure.

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The Enchanted Islands

Na h-Eileanan Seunta or the Enchanted Islands… Despite the thick mist or rain frequently shrouding the archipelago, any person visiting the Shiants for the first time quickly falls under their spell. Whether there is bright sunshine or cloudy weather, the Shiants are stunning for their breathtaking beauty, their purity and their biodiversity. Even if visitors are rare, there are seabirds everywhere, nesting in the cliffs, skimming the surface of the water, or flying over the islands…

The rocks, cliffs, dolomite columns or barely visible rocky points are all whitewashed with guano, while the cries of birds on the water body fill up the background. The gathering of puffins, murres and razorbills at sunset in front of Gharb Eilean Island, which is the highlight of the natural spectacle taking place all day long, is not to be missed. Spring is the breeding period for murres and puffins and remains the best time for seabird watching.

Each bird species has its respective territory

While exploring the archipelago, we realise that each species living in the archipelago has its respective territory and does not encroach on the habitat of other species. The seal population for example groups around a rocky area opposite Eilean Mhuire Island, while puffins have settled in the cliffs on Gharb Eilean Island. They share the area with murres and razorbills, whose primary residence is on Eilean an Taighe Island, where they coexist with fulmars and Kittiwakes. It is to be noted that murres and penguins occupy the first level above sea level, while seagulls and fulmars nest further up in the cliffs.

Great black-back gulls and white-tailed eagles in the heights

For their part, great black-back gulls occupy the peaks of mountains and rocky headlands, just like white-tailed eagles, also called sea eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla), which are present at the top of steep rocky cliffs. Their powerful, hoarse cry is particularly identifiable when they are nesting or defending their territory. It is easy to spot their especially large nest, which is mainly made of branches and built in the shelter of an inaccessible cliff. The wingspan of this raptor listed in Annex I of the EU Birds Directive can reach 2.40 m! During the nesting period, great black-back gulls can also be aggressive and will attack any visitor who dares to pass close to their territory. They are easily recognisable with their large black wings with 1.7m wingspan and large yellow beak marked with a red dot.

A major international site for seabird watching

These 500 hectares of rocks, grass, cliffs and wilderness, wedged between Skye and Lewis in the middle of the Minch and surrounded by the seas, are a unique natural place for many seabird species that thrive or migrate there. The Shiants are unquestionably an international Mecca for seabird watching, where one can especially admire at close range and in excellent conditions pelagic species that can rarely be spotted from the coast. There are a countless number of birds! According to the latest ornithological data, there are some 15,000 to 18,000 murres, between 8,000 and 11,000 little penguins, between 4,000 and 6,000 fulmars, 2,000 black-legged Kittiwakes, about 1,500 common shags, hundreds of gulls of various types whose numbers are rising, 26 great skuas whose population is also on the rise, and 240,000 puffins, which represent approximately one eighth of the UK population, and 2% of the world population.

Bird banding coordinated by the British Trust for Ornithology

While visiting Chelsea an Taighe Island, we come across volunteer members of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), an organisation devoted to the study of birds founded in 1932 in the UK. The BTO contributes to research on the biology of birds and mainly the study of populations and their reproduction. It also undertakes bird banding, which is the only way to know how long they live, through the involvement of a large number of volunteers. We precisely meet with one of them, Ian Buxton, who had the chance to find a puffin banded in 1975 while on an expedition to the Shiants in July 2009. ‘When we found it, EB73152 still had its original metal ring, but also its coloured ring, which allowed us to identify it as a bird from the Shiants and determine its age: 34. At the time, it was the oldest puffin in Europe,’ says Ian Buxton with emotion before adding, ‘But a 41-year-old specimen has since been found in Norway.’ According to the BTO volunteer, these longevity records were almost inevitable since the data collected using rings showed an adult survival rate of about 92%. ‘In recent years, puffins have had good breeding seasons as birds enjoy excellent living conditions in the Shiants, where there is no pollution or degradation of their habitat and where they find an abundance of food.’ On the other hand, during migration, they may suffer from lack of prey due to the decrease of fisheries resulting from industrial fishing and they suffer badly from oil spills, such as the Erica and Prestige disasters, from frequent degassing and by catch in gill nets.

The Atlantic puffin, the star of the Shiant Islands

There is no need to be an ornithologist to be able to identify the Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica). It is called the ‘clown of the sea’, mainly due to its amazing and massive triangular beak with a red tip, and the rest of it is blue with a yellow border. Puffins use their beak to store their prey and can carry up to 30 fish at a time! The bony plates adorning their beak are used for courtship and disappear after nesting. Their beak then becomes smaller and predominantly yellow and grey.

A swimming clown in deep waters that also travels the high seas

It is perhaps also its large head, black cap and red circled eyes that give it a gentle, dreamy character. Similarly, its awkward and hesitating gait makes you smile when it takes off, running on the surface of the water with its orange-red webbed feet and flapping its short wings very fast. While it is clumsy in the air, the ‘clown of the sea’ is more comfortable under water, where it swims using its short wings. The maximum depth reached by a puffin is nevertheless 60 m (Burger & Simpson, 1986).

The Atlantic Puffin is a pelagic bird that lives mostly on the high seas. It only settles in the islands or along the coast for reproduction. It then nests on grassy slopes and cliffs, in the scree for example, as is the case in the Shiants. The largest populations breed in Iceland (2–3 million pairs), Scotland, Ireland, the Shetlands, Scandinavia, etc. This species is found only in the North Atlantic.

As early as August, the Atlantic puffins in the Shiants, like those from the Irish Sea, leaving the islands to reach the Bay of Biscay in fall and sometimes even go as far as the Mediterranean (Brown, in Nettleship & Birkhead op. cit.; Harris, in Wernham et al., 2002).

The passage of sea mammals and basking sharks

Fin whales, killer whales, dolphins, basking sharks, porpoises… Aside from seabirds, the waters around the Shiant Islands are home to a fantastic variety of marine wildlife, which is visible from the islands or even better, from a boat. The waters of the Hebrides are among the most important marine habitats in Europe, with nearly 70% of the species of whales, dolphins and porpoises. Cetaceans are concentrated mainly in spring and summer in the coastal waters of the Hebrides, particularly in the Minch Strait where fish is particularly abundant at that time.

The Minch Strait is dotted with shoals where various waters and currents meet, which is suitable for the production of plankton which attracts large numbers of fish, mammals and seabirds. Located in the heart of the Minch, the Shiant Islands are thus an ideal place to observe fish and marine mammals, especially since the archipelago is little visited by tourists.

Encounter with the second largest fish in the world

Besides killer whales, Minke whales and dolphins (read our feature story), we had the opportunity to come across an adult basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) measuring nearly 9 m long with a juvenile off the coast of the Shiants! They were both moving at a slow speed of about 3 knots. We could easily spot them through their first dorsal fin forming an equilateral triangle, which is characteristic of the species, and their crescent-shaped tail fin coming to the surface. Their dark grey slate fins could be seen from afar on the calm, light grey sea. We just had time to observe the pointed snout of an adult before it disappears in the mist. A fleeting but touching moment: we were in the presence of the second largest fish in the world! Basking sharks are massive and imposing but completely harmless animals since they feed mainly on plankton and algae. It is quite common to see them in this region, which used to be the preferred hunting ground for shark hunters. Basking sharks were hunted for liver oil in Scotland for nearly 50 years from 1947. The last fishery based in the Firth of Clyde was closed down in 1995. Industrial methods were used to hunt basking sharks at the time by the Scottish West Coast Fisheries, which operated a factory vessel and three 12 m motor hunting boats, equipped with a harpoon cannon. Their liver, which represents up to a quarter of their total body mass, is filled with oil (squalene) used as an industrial lubricant.

Basking sharks are today protected in British waters, mainly thanks to Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) and the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004.

Shiant islands

Pricing (from) - 0.00 €

The best time to discover the Shiants is between June and mid-August when the weather is more favourable and birds are present.

Opening period - All year round.

Protected Marine Area, key-features

A haven of untamed nature for the observation of the fauna of the Hebrides ★★★

  • The site: the Shiants are a group of three private and uninhabited islands located in the Minch, 7km from the Isle of Lewis and 20km from the Isle of Skye, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.
  • Characteristics: the Shiants are renowned for their remarkable marine biodiversity. These uninhabited and isolated islands are a haven for birds and cetaceans as well as a delight for ornithologists, naturalists, snorkel divers and recreational boaters. Nearly 240,000 puffins, between 15,000 and 18 000 murres, between 8,000 and 11,000 razorbills, between 4,000 and 6,000 fulmars, and more than 2000 black-legged kittiwakes have been identified, not to mention eagles, cormorants, gannets or gulls. A group of grey and harbour seals also lives in the archipelago, as well as dolphins and porpoises, while several species of whales, killer whales and basking sharks pass nearby, especially in spring.
  • Geological features: these islands were formed 60 million years ago and are an extension of the peninsula of the Isle of Skye. The volcanic rocks are considered to be young compared to other rest of the Hebrides. The north coast of the island of Garbh Eilean is distinguished by its impressive dolerite cliffs, also known as the “organ pipes”, culminating at over 120m high with a diameter of about 2m! These stone columns are similar to the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland and were formed by the slow cooling of deep underground volcanic rocks. They are estimated to be much higher in some places and are yet unknown.
  • History: located in the heart of the Minch Strait, the Shiants Islands are estimated to have appeared 60 million years ago and to have been occupied shortly after the ice age, 10,000 years ago. It is assumed that the first inhabitants could have been hermits or monks. Archaeological evidence shows that about five families and a maximum of 50 people have lived there 400 years ago. There was a decline in population in 1650 with the presence of only one family. The last family left the islands in 1901.

A major breeding ground for sea birds under EU protection ★★

  • A listed site: the Shiants group of islands is designated as a site of special scientific interest and an area of outstanding natural beauty under UK law and is classified as a Special Protected Area and a Natura 2000 site under European legislation.
  • Scientific monitoring: volunteer members of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), whose mission is to manage the monitoring of banded birds since the 1970s, have captured a 34 year old puffin, which is to date one of oldest the species in Europe. Although the island of St Kilda has more puffins, their density is higher in the Shiants.

A private site accessible to anyone who cares for the environment ★★

  • Various possibilities for mooring: the small horseshoe-shaped bay offers the possibility to moor in waters a dozen metres deep near the isthmus. The anchorage is not protected from the easterly winds. On the other side of the isthmus, a charted mooring is however exposed to northerly winds. Its location is ideal to admire the sunset in the Hebrides Islands. It is essential to regularly get weather information if you intend to stay there. Spirit of June is the only sailboat rental company in this area that far north of Scotland. Two sailboats, the Spirit of June, a Dufour Gib’Sea 43 boat and the Iona, a Bavaria 39, are available with or without a skipper from the beautiful Gairloc’h Bay. It takes about three hours to reach the Shiants at an average speed of 8 knots.
  • Accommodation in the only housing on the island: the owner of the archipelago, Tom Nicholson, gives visitors access to the only habitable structure on the island. Located on the island of Eilean an Taighe, the small house has the merit of providing shelter but living conditions are precarious, as stated by the owner on his website. He also recommends a list items required for a quiet stay. You can contact Tom Nicholson in order to book your stay and get the house key.
  • Ecotourism activities: there is plenty to do in this natural paradise: walks to observe and photograph the thousands of seabirds nesting in the cliffs; snorkelling outings allowing encounters with grey – these shy sea mammals approach swimmers only after getting familiar with them. A wetsuit with a hood, wet socks and gloves are required!; Dolphin and whale watching around the archipelago – encounters with bottlenose dolphins, porpoises and Minke whales are particularly frequent, and killer whales as well as basking sharks can be spotted in spring.
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