Spotting seals in Shetland
This week we head to the very top of the United Kingdom to Shetland. We will be spotting seals, seabirds (and lovely puffins!) and discovering more about these very special islands.
We are travelling there by ferry and perhaps we might spot some wild sea creatures on the way too! Let's see.
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Noss and Foula Islands' seabirds, Shetland
The island of Noss is renowned as one of Europe's finest wildlife sites. Its 180 metre high sea cliffs - dramatic at any time of year - come to life in summer when tens of thousands of seabirds return here to nest. The most numerous birds are black and white guillemots. Their close relative the razorbill nests here too, looking much like a guillemot but with a less pointed bill. Gannets are the largest of Britain's seabirds, with a wingspan up to 1.8 metres. They are sitting on the rocks here.
Next in the video is Dunter 3 Boat with submarine camera. It displayed anemones, jellyfish, crabs, soft corals and tiny hydroids - colonies of strange, ancient animals that look like plants but can live in the dark and eat plankton.
Foula is one of Britain's most remote inhabited island. It has the breathtaking 376 metre (1233ft) sheer drop at the back of Da Kame that competes with Conachair in St Kilda as the highest sea-cliff in Britain. The Fulmar by far is the commonest seabird in Shetland. Puffins nest here too, they generally mate for life and return to the same cliff-top burrow year after year. At the end of the video you can see Great skua. Great skuas adult birds defend their nests aggressively, swooping on anything that comes close.
British Antarctic Territory - wildlife and heritage
Watch the three-part Britain's Treasure Islands documentary series on BBC FOUR, starting Tue 12 Apr 2016 21:00. (repeated Wed 13 Apr 2016 20:00).
This mini-documentary explores the wildlife of the British Antarctic Territory - a wedge of Antarctica that includes the Antarctic Peninsula. This UK Overseas Territory is home to spectacular landscapes of ice; glaciers, ice bergs and ice sheets. This icy world is a home for leopard seals, many species of whales, penguins and petrels. On land, the flora of the white continent is sparse, and consists mainly of mosses, lichens and a few small flowering plants, but the few rocky outcrops of the Antarctic Peninsula were selected as sites for research bases of several nations. We visit Port Lockroy, a British base established during WWII. We find patriotic penguins trumpeting under the Union Flag, and the Royal Mail's most southerly outlet. Nearby, we find beaches littered with giant whale bones - the legacy of a century of whaling. North of the Antarctic Peninsula, we visit volcanic Deception Island in the South Shetland Islands. This active volcano is covered with a mix of ash and now, and we find a strange mix of penguins and geothermal hot sands. But how will this unique icy wilderness survive in the warmer world of tomorrow?
Please note: although complementary to the BBC FOUR series, the 40 short mini-documentaries are not commissioned or editorially overseen by BBC.
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BRITAIN'S TREASURE ISLANDS - MINI-DOCUMENTARIES
Introduction
Overview of the UK Overseas Territories
Filming the Britain’s Treasure Islands TV documentary series
Stewart McPherson’s lecture at the Royal Geographical Society
Mini-documentaries about each of the UK Overseas Territories
Ascension Island – wildlife and heritage
Saint Helena – wildlife and heritage
Tristan da Cunha – wildlife and heritage
Falkland Islands – wildlife and heritage
South Georgia – wildlife and heritage
British Antarctic Territory – wildlife and heritage
British Indian Ocean Territory – wildlife and heritage
Pitcairn Islands – wildlife and heritage
Bermuda – wildlife and heritage
Cayman Islands – wildlife and heritage
British Virgin Islands – wildlife and heritage
Montserrat – wildlife and heritage
Anguilla – wildlife and heritage
Turks and Caicos Islands – wildlife and heritage
Akrotiri and Dhekelia – wildlife and heritage
Gibraltar – wildlife and heritage
Mini-documentaries about specific subjects on particular UK Overseas Territories
Ascension Island – natives and aliens
Ascension Island – supplying the garrison
Saint Helena – wirebird conservation
Saint Helena – plant conservation
Life on Tristan da Cunha – the World’s Most Remote Inhabited Island
Tristan da Cunha – the Monster Mice of Gough Island
Falkland Islands – Jimmy the ex-whaler
British Indian Ocean Territory – coconut crabs
British Indian Ocean Territory – seabirds
British Indian Ocean Territory – underwater
Pitcairn Islands – Henderson Island’s wildlife
Life on Pitcairn Island – home of the descendants of the mutineers from HMS Bounty
Mini-documentaries about systematic wildlife groups across all of the UK Overseas Territories
Terrestrial Invertebrates of the UK Overseas Territories
Amphibians and Reptiles of the UK Overseas Territories
Plants of the UK Overseas Territories
Mammals of the UK Overseas Territories
Birds of the UK Overseas Territories
Marine Life of the UK Overseas Territories
Overview mini-documentaries
Conservation Lessons of the UKOTs
Islands of Evolution
Overview of the Britain’s Treasure Islands book
Shipping 5,000 books to all UK secondary schools COMING SOON
Overview of Britain’s Treasure Islands TV documentary series
Grey Seals Underwater in Shetland (George the seal)
Grey seals in shetland
© jackperksphotography.com
BRESSAY ISLE AND AITH GUN 2008
A visit with my old pal Geoff to the WW1 coastal gun battery on Bressay Isle, Shetland in 2008.
Puffins of Fair Isle: A Love Story
On a recent Quark expedition, passengers and crew took a pit stop on Fair Isle, Scotland’s most remote inhabited island. Whilst wandering its stunning coastline and craggy cliff sides some very lucky passengers glimpsed the beginnings of a wildlife romance story that will transform into a life-long bond.
Learn more about our Spitsbergen via the Faroes and Jan Mayen voyage ⇨
Check out our current offers ⇨
Falkland Islands - wildlife and heritage
Watch the three-part Britain's Treasure Islands documentary series on BBC FOUR, starting Tue 12 Apr 2016 21:00. (repeated Wed 13 Apr 2016 20:00).
This mini-documentary explores the wildlife, history and cultures of the Falkland Islands. This UK Overseas Territory is a treasure trove of natural history, with commerson dolphin, enormous elephant seals, penguins and some of the largest albatross colonies on Earth. We follow Charles Darwin's footsteps across the Falklands (for he spent twice as long here as he did in the Galapagos), we find striated caracaras - the most southerly bird of prey. These extraordinary raptors stole items from Charles Darwin and mugged presenter Stewart McPherson whilst filming! While many of the islands of the Falklands archipelago have been impacted by mankind, we visit an island with intact tussock vegetation which enables perhaps the greatest natural wonder of the Falklands; thousands of sooty shearwaters, which return back to their nests en-mass each evening.
This film is one of forty mini-documentaries made from the footage not used in the broadcast series.
Visit to view all 40 mini-documentaries free of charge.
Please note: although complementary to the BBC FOUR series, the 40 short mini-documentaries are not commissioned or editorially overseen by BBC.
To discovery the wildlife, history and cultures of all of the UK Overseas Territories, please visit BritainsTreasureIslands.com
BRITAIN'S TREASURE ISLANDS - MINI-DOCUMENTARIES
Introduction
Overview of the UK Overseas Territories
Filming the Britain’s Treasure Islands TV documentary series
Stewart McPherson’s lecture at the Royal Geographical Society
Mini-documentaries about each of the UK Overseas Territories
Ascension Island – wildlife and heritage
Saint Helena – wildlife and heritage
Tristan da Cunha – wildlife and heritage
Falkland Islands – wildlife and heritage
South Georgia – wildlife and heritage
British Antarctic Territory – wildlife and heritage
British Indian Ocean Territory – wildlife and heritage
Pitcairn Islands – wildlife and heritage
Bermuda – wildlife and heritage
Cayman Islands – wildlife and heritage
British Virgin Islands – wildlife and heritage
Montserrat – wildlife and heritage
Anguilla – wildlife and heritage
Turks and Caicos Islands – wildlife and heritage
Akrotiri and Dhekelia – wildlife and heritage
Gibraltar – wildlife and heritage
Mini-documentaries about specific subjects on particular UK Overseas Territories
Ascension Island – natives and aliens
Ascension Island – supplying the garrison
Saint Helena – wirebird conservation
Saint Helena – plant conservation
Life on Tristan da Cunha – the World’s Most Remote Inhabited Island
Tristan da Cunha – the Monster Mice of Gough Island
Falkland Islands – Jimmy the ex-whaler
British Indian Ocean Territory – coconut crabs
British Indian Ocean Territory – seabirds
British Indian Ocean Territory – underwater
Pitcairn Islands – Henderson Island’s wildlife
Life on Pitcairn Island – home of the descendants of the mutineers from HMS Bounty
Mini-documentaries about systematic wildlife groups across all of the UK Overseas Territories
Terrestrial Invertebrates of the UK Overseas Territories
Amphibians and Reptiles of the UK Overseas Territories
Plants of the UK Overseas Territories
Mammals of the UK Overseas Territories
Birds of the UK Overseas Territories
Marine Life of the UK Overseas Territories
Overview mini-documentaries
Conservation Lessons of the UKOTs
Islands of Evolution
Overview of the Britain’s Treasure Islands book
Shipping 5,000 books to all UK secondary schools COMING SOON
Overview of Britain’s Treasure Islands TV documentary series
Falkland Islands - wildlife and heritage
Watch the three-part Britain's Treasure Islands documentary series on BBC FOUR, starting Tue 12 Apr 2016 21:00. (repeated Wed 13 Apr 2016 20:00).
This mini-documentary explores the wildlife, history and cultures of the Falkland Islands. This UK Overseas Territory is a treasure trove of natural history, with commerson dolphin, enormous elephant seals, penguins and some of the largest albatross colonies on Earth. We follow Charles Darwin's footsteps across the Falklands (for he spent twice as long here as he did in the Galapagos), we find striated caracaras - the most southerly bird of prey. These extraordinary raptors stole items from Charles Darwin and mugged presenter Stewart McPherson whilst filming! While many of the islands of the Falklands archipelago have been impacted by mankind, we visit an island with intact tussock vegetation which enables perhaps the greatest natural wonder of the Falklands; thousands of sooty shearwaters, which return back to their nests en-mass each evening.
This film is one of forty mini-documentaries made from the footage not used in the broadcast series.
Visit to view all 40 mini-documentaries free of charge.
Please note: although complementary to the BBC FOUR series, the 40 short mini-documentaries are not commissioned or editorially overseen by BBC.
To discovery the wildlife, history and cultures of all of the UK Overseas Territories, please visit BritainsTreasureIslands.com
BRITAIN'S TREASURE ISLANDS - MINI-DOCUMENTARIES
Introduction
Overview of the UK Overseas Territories
Filming the Britain’s Treasure Islands TV documentary series
Stewart McPherson’s lecture at the Royal Geographical Society
Mini-documentaries about each of the UK Overseas Territories
Ascension Island – wildlife and heritage
Saint Helena – wildlife and heritage
Tristan da Cunha – wildlife and heritage
Falkland Islands – wildlife and heritage
South Georgia – wildlife and heritage
British Antarctic Territory – wildlife and heritage
British Indian Ocean Territory – wildlife and heritage
Pitcairn Islands – wildlife and heritage
Bermuda – wildlife and heritage
Cayman Islands – wildlife and heritage
British Virgin Islands – wildlife and heritage
Montserrat – wildlife and heritage
Anguilla – wildlife and heritage
Turks and Caicos Islands – wildlife and heritage
Akrotiri and Dhekelia – wildlife and heritage
Gibraltar – wildlife and heritage
Mini-documentaries about specific subjects on particular UK Overseas Territories
Ascension Island – natives and aliens
Ascension Island – supplying the garrison
Saint Helena – wirebird conservation
Saint Helena – plant conservation
Life on Tristan da Cunha – the World’s Most Remote Inhabited Island
Tristan da Cunha – the Monster Mice of Gough Island
Falkland Islands – Jimmy the ex-whaler
British Indian Ocean Territory – coconut crabs
British Indian Ocean Territory – seabirds
British Indian Ocean Territory – underwater
Pitcairn Islands – Henderson Island’s wildlife
Life on Pitcairn Island – home of the descendants of the mutineers from HMS Bounty
Mini-documentaries about systematic wildlife groups across all of the UK Overseas Territories
Terrestrial Invertebrates of the UK Overseas Territories
Amphibians and Reptiles of the UK Overseas Territories
Plants of the UK Overseas Territories
Mammals of the UK Overseas Territories
Birds of the UK Overseas Territories
Marine Life of the UK Overseas Territories
Overview mini-documentaries
Conservation Lessons of the UKOTs
Islands of Evolution
Overview of the Britain’s Treasure Islands book
Shipping 5,000 books to all UK secondary schools COMING SOON
Overview of Britain’s Treasure Islands TV documentary series
George at sea
I just cant stop him eating......
Where to see puffins in the UK | Wild Britain
In this new Telegraph video series we celebrate some of Britain’s most diverse and beautiful wildlife, sharing some fun facts about these amazing animals and their habitats as well as the best places to spot them around the country. This video focuses on puffins. Members of the Auk family, these comical pint-sized seabirds are also known as ‘sea parrots’ or ‘clowns of the sea’.
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Telegraph.co.uk and YouTube.com/TelegraphTV are websites of The Daily Telegraph, the UK's best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.
Puffins and seabirds of Skomar Island
The noise of seabirds from The Wick on Skomer Island is pretty impressive!
Daily Bird 008 - Fulmarus glacialis
Fulmarus glacialis.
Also called Fulmar or Arctic Fulmar. Lives in the north Atlantic and north Pacific. These fulmars look superficially like gulls, but are unrelated, and are in fact petrels.
The Northern Fulmar and its sister, the Southern Fulmar, are the extant members of the Fulmarus genus. The Fulmars are in turn a member of the Procellariiformes order, and they all share certain identifying features. First, they have nasal passages that attach to the upper bill called naricorns. Although the nostrils on the Albatross are on the sides of the bill, as opposed to the rest of the order, including the Fulmars' which have the nostrils on top of the upper bill.
Adult description:
Body grey and white.
Pale yellow, thick, bill.
Bluish legs.
Resources:
SHETLAND ISLANDS PHOTO ADVENTURES
Website:
The Shetland Islands in June offers almost 24-hours of daylight, possible whale and dolphin sightings, a strong sense of Viking heritage, spectacular weather, breathtaking landscapes and more than a million breeding seabirds. What more can one ask for?
The Shetland’s – the northern extremity of the British Isles, is a unique experience whether you travel as a regular tourist or with your luggage stuffed with camera gear. The combination of breathtaking landscapes and the abundant wildlife make this archipelago a photographer’s paradise. The archipelago is located on the border between the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea 110 miles (170 km) north of mainland Scotland. This precarious position is a recipe for dramatic scenery and spectacular weather.
Although this wildlife workshop focuses mainly on seabirds, the Shetland’s surreal landscape is constantly present and practically begging you to shoot it. The workshop will coincide with the height of summer where daylight lasts for almost 24 hours, a million seabirds in large colonies are breeding and feeding their chicks and if we are lucky one might also spot orcas, whales or dolphins.
SHETLAND ISLANDS PHOTO ADVENTURES
THE WORLD'S MOST CREATIVE AND INSPIRING PHOTO ADVENTURE VACATIONS.
Over 100 photo adventures in over 50 countries on 7 continents. Join us on one of the most amazing photographic adventures of a lifetime.
© 2008 - 2015 Copyright Photo Workshop Adventures LLC. All Right Reserved.
High on Foula
Some scenes from walk along the high ridge of Hamnafield, Da Sneug and Da Kame on Foula. About 13km with 1200m of ascent. The highest point being Da Sneug at 418m, though it feels higher!
I didn't pass a single person on my walk and not even that many sheep!
Music by Fridarey, a band from Fair Isle, not Foula.
Check out my blog moder-dye.blogspot.co.uk
South Shetland Islands, Drake Passage, South Pole
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about 120 kilometres (75 mi) north of the Antarctic Peninsula, with a total area of 3,687 square kilometres (1,424 sq mi). By the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the islands' sovereignty is neither recognized nor disputed by the signatories and they are free for use by any signatory for non-military purposes. The islands have been claimed by the United Kingdom since 1908 and to be part of the British Antarctic Territory since 1962. They are also claimed by the governments of Chile (since 1940, as part of the Antártica Chilena Province) and by Argentina (since 1943, as part of Argentine Antarctica, Tierra del Fuego Province). Several countries maintain research stations on the islands. Most of them are situated on King George Island, benefitting from the airfield of the Chilean base Eduardo Frei. There are sixteen research stations to date in different parts of the islands, with Chilean stations being the greatest in number. Research is often a shared duty of nations, with the Chilean-United States Shirreff Base being one example. As a group of islands, the South Shetland Islands are located at 62°0′S 58°0′WCoordinates: 62°0′S 58°0′W. They are within the region 61° 00'–63° 37' South, 53° 83'–62° 83' West. The islands lie 940 km (580 mi) south of the Falkland Islands, and between 93 km (58 mi) (Deception Island) and 269 km (167 mi) (Clarence Island) northwest and north from the nearest point of the Antarctic continent, Graham Land. The South Shetlands consist of 11 major islands and several minor ones, totalling 3,687 square kilometres (1,424 sq mi) of land area. Between 80 and 90 percent of the land area is permanently glaciated. The highest point on the island chain is Mount Irving on Clarence Island at 2,300 metres (7,546 ft) above sea level. The South Shetland Islands extend about 450 km (280 mi) from Smith Island and Snow Island in the west-southwest to Elephant Island and Clarence Island in the east-northeast. The islands are the same distance from the equator as the Faroe islands in the north Atlantic but their proximity to Antarctica means that they have a much colder climate. The sea around the islands is closed by ice from early April to early December and the monthly average temperature is below 0 °C (32 °F) for eight months of the year (April to November). The islands have experienced measurable glacier retreat during recent years but despite this they remain more than 80% snow and ice covered throughout the summer. The climate is cloudy and humid all year round and very strong westerly winds blow at all seasons. Some of the sunniest weather is associated with outbreaks of very cold weather from the south in late winter and spring. Mean summer temperatures are only about 1.5 °C (34.7 °F) and those in winter are about −5 °C (23 °F). The effect of the ocean tends to keep summer temperatures low and winter temperatures from decreasing as low as they do inland to the south. Despite the harsh conditions the islands do support vegetation and are part of the Scotia Sea Islands tundra ecoregion, along with South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the South Orkney Islands and Bouvet Island. All these islands lie in the cold seas below the Antarctic convergence. These areas support tundra vegetation consisting of mosses, lichens and algae, while seabirds, penguins and seals feed in the surrounding waters. Chilean scientists have claimed that Amerind visited the islands, due to stone artifacts recovered from bottom-sampling operations in Admiralty Bay, King George Island and Discovery Bay, Greenwich Island; however, the artifacts two arrowheads were later found to have been planted. The Dutchman Dirck Gerritsz in 1599, or the Spaniard Gabriel de Castilla in 1603, supposedly sailed south of the Drake Passage in the South Shetland Islands area. In 1818 Juan Pedro de Aguirre obtained permission from the Buenos Aires authorities to establish a base for sealing on some of the uninhabited islands near the South Pole. Captain William Smith in the British merchant brig Williams, while sailing to Valparaiso, Chile in 1819 deviated from his route south of Cape Horn, and on 19 February sighted Williams Point, the northeast extremity of Livingston Island. Thus Livingston Island became the first land ever discovered south of the 60th southern latitude. Smith revisited the South Shetlands, landed on King George Island on 16 October 1819, and claimed possession for Britain. Meanwhile, the Spanish Navy ship San Telmo sank in September 1819 whilst trying to go through the Drake Passage. Parts of her presumed wreckage were found months later by sealers on the north coast of Livingston Island.
The Isle of Noss
Tom Weir Visits The Isle of Noss
Gannets Diving for Fish
These versatile birds thrive in the air and sea.
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**More info & videos below**
“Wild Way of the Vikings“ premieres Wednesday, February 13 at 8|7c on PBS:
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The Farne Islands, Northumberland (inc Puffins, Arctic Terns & More) - 18th & 19th June 2014
British trophy hunters killing 100 puffins a time then bringing them home as souvenirs
British trophy hunters are paying to shoot up to 100 puffins in a single bloodthirsty killing spree before bringing the carcasses back into the UK. Trips to Iceland, where it is legal to hunt puffins, are being sold for up to £3,000 a time, even though the birds were classed as endangered in 2018. The Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting shared photos of hunters posing with scores of dead puffins. They are now calling on Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers to ban the import of puffin trophies. Spokesman Eduardo Goncalves told the Sunday Telegraph: ‘The puffin is now in danger of becoming extinct, and uncontrolled hunting has been identified as a leading cause.
‘There should be an immediate moratorium imposed before it is too late.’ Speaking to Metro.co.uk, he added: ‘Puffins are one of the best-loved birds in the world. People travel the world to photograph them. Now it seems trophy hunters travel the world to shoot them too. ‘Scientists say they are in serious trouble. Populations are falling, and far fewer are coming to Britain’s shorelines. The last thing they need is for trophy hunters to shoot them in huge numbers just for fun. ‘Britain should implement a total ban on the import of hunting trophies. We should have nothing to do with this disgusting so-called ‘sport’ and should be doing everything we can to consign it to history.’ Goncalves also called on CITES, the international animal trade regulation body, to add puffins to its list of protected species during its conference next month. Figures show that the puffin population of Iceland has slumped from seven million to 5.4 million in just a decade. And the Shetland island of Fair Isle has seen its puffin population plummet from 20,000 birds to just 10,000 birds in the last 30 years. The UK supports around 600,000 pairs of puffins – equivalent to a tenth of the world population.
Sir Roger Gale, chairman of the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, blasted the practice, telling the Telegraph: ‘Personally I regard the whole practice as abhorrent. ‘I don’t believe in trophy hunting at all for any species. I don’t think there is any excuse for it. ‘I happen to be at the moment at least the leader of the UK delegation for the council of Europe where there are two at least Icelandic representatives, and I will be discussing the issue with them and see what if anything can be done in Iceland. ‘I believe there is much more tourism to be generated by preservation, and conservation rather than by killing puffins.’
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Partial albino Puffin (Fratercula arctica) Lundy, UK
This partial albino puffin was reported yesterday. We managed to get some video this morning.
Partial albinos occur in many colonies and are normally not notcied as the white is usually restricted to patches on the head, neck and back. Even when the Puffin is almost entirely white the primaries remain black.
...
Leucism, in which the normal pigmentation is diluted, giving a very pale brown, almost cream-coloured Puffin occurs but is even rarer.
M.P Harris (1984) The Puffin, Poyser, p27