The population of Europe’s smallest seabird, the storm petrel, doubled at Mousa in just 12 years, according to new figures released by RSPB Scotland. Seldom close to land in nonbreeding season. I later encountered this bird breeding in a stone tower called a broch on the Island Mousa near Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. You may also come across the equally feisty Arctic skua. Stormy Petrels in Mousa Broch Laurie Goodlad, a tour guide with a business called Shetland with Laurie has written about the midnight trip to Mousa.

Widespread at sea, from tropical and subtropical waters to edges of pack ice. Sumburgh Head RSPB reserve is the most accessible seabird colony in Shetland and is particularly good for people with reduced mobility. They nest below ground, appearing above ground only during darkness and are much more widespread in the UK than Manx shearwaters and Leach's storm-petrels. Trips into the isle leave daily throughout the summer by The Mousa Boat and booking for the evening trips are recommended. More than half the world's population of this species breeds in Shetland. The Mousa Boat: Visiting storm patrols at night - See 84 traveler reviews, 59 candid photos, and great deals for Sandwick, UK, at Tripadvisor.

Storm petrels breed on land in burrows, in crevices between boulders or sometimes in dry stone dykes. Storm petrels are common but confined to islands that are free of invasive species such as rats. Conjuring up images from Lady Cottingham's book of childhood, curiosity found me standing on the pier at Sandsayre on Wednesday night, waiting for the Mousa Boat to take us on the midnight trip to see these curious little birds.
The Hydrobatinae, or northern storm petrels, were the two genera Hydrobates and Oceanodroma. A survey conducted in 2008 by RSPB Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage recorded an estimated 11,800 pairs – a … During the trip you can see the Storm Petrels return to their nests within the walls of the Iron Age building, Mousa Broch, and Laurie has kindly shared her experience with NorthLink Ferries. European storm-petrels are pelagic, returning to land only to breed, choosing to nest on remote offshore islands where nocturnal access by surveyors is often difficult and dangerous. This was a visit to Keen of Hamar. Storm petrels (or alamootie, to give them their Shetland name) nest in burrows beneath rocks, scree and boulder beaches, and within the base of dry-stone walls. The author saw several European Storm-petrels at sea from a ferry from the Shetland Islands to Norway. There is a boat trip to Mousa from May … No trip to Shetland is complete without a trip to the uninhabited island of Mousa. I was once told that to experience the sound of the Storm Petrels within the broch walls at Mousa was like listening to a fairy being sick. Counting storm petrels is difficult because they only come back to burrows at night Protection of storm petrels Southern Storm-Petrels: Habitat: Open ocean.

Mousa has nearly 40 per cent of the UK population of storm petrels, making it the largest colony of the tiny seabirds in the country. In this area we may see Wandering Albatrosses, Grey Headed Albatrosses, Black- browed Albatrosses, Light- mantled Albatrosses, Cape Petrels, Southern Fulmars, Wilson’s Storm Petrels, Blue Petrels and Antarctic Petrels. Near the South Shetland Islands, we spot our first icebergs. Every return call was counted, which demonstrated a substantial increase in the storm petrel population between 1996 and 2008. Take a night tour to see the storm petrels in Mousa.

Our time on Unst was coming to an end, but we had one more site to visit before we left and headed back down south.

Off North America mainly over continental shelf, may concentrate over upwellings and where warm and cool water currents meet, as along edges of Gulf Stream. On Mousa, several hundred pairs also nest inside the stone walls of the island’s famous Iron Age broch, a 13 m high tower. Seabird Spectacular, Gannet Frenzy & Mousa Storm petrels: Ultimate Shetland Day 5 June 24, 2017. Peak time for catching the species using tape-lures is mid-July to the first week of August. Previously in Shetland, Leach’s Storm-petrels had been trapped for ringing mostly on Foula and indeed Fair Isle, where individuals are caught and ringed almost annually by the bird observatory staff.

They were largely restricted to the Northern Hemisphere, although …