[Bird-watching trip undertaken on Tuesday, 30th May, 2023]

I wake up this morning feeling fine. (Don’t know what was wrong with me yesterday.) But the weather is misty and drizzly, and I am in no hurry to set off.

The house I am staying in is a modern, modular house and I love it. [The photo below is from the booking website.] Nobody else was staying here last night, and so I have a good chat with the man who delivers the pain-au-chocolate rations for breakfast.

We discuss heating (the house has underfloor heating via a heat pump and is, apparently, too warm for some guests who expect Scotland to be cold!). We both agree we like the warmth and he explains it has been unseasonably cold and windy – even for Scotland – this month.

He also tells me the John o’Groats boat trip to see the seabirds is well worth doing. I might even get to see puffins! That helps me make a decision. It’s my last day up here today, and instead of going walking I am going to go puffin hunting.

I drive back to John o’Groats and join the queue for the bird-watching trip.

Really didn’t expect to see so many people here on this dull and drizzly day.

The boatman tells us we might see whales today, as a pod has been sighted passing through the Pentland Firth, so we are heading out into deeper waters.

Sadly, we don’t see any whales, but we do see seals.

Giving up on the whales, the boat heads closer to the shore and, like a miracle, the sun comes out and lights up the cliffs. Look at those gorgeous colours in the rocks… and the naked red-sandstone earth behind the landslip.

I walked this stretch of coast a few days ago, but of course you don’t see the colours (or the landslip) from the path.

People are out on the top of the cliffs. Maybe watching the birds, maybe watching us!

To my suprise, the boat manoeuvres closer to the shore and actually enters one of the steep-sided geos. The noise of seabirds is deafening as they object to our presence. And the smell of bird guano fills our nostrils.

The boatman says the numbers in the bird population have been reduced due to the recent oubreak of bird flu. So he is pleased to see lots of guillemots, standing like sentries on the poo-covered shelves in the sides of the cliffs.

I spend most of my time looking through my binoculars and scanning for puffins. The few photos I do take are disappointingly blurry (I think due to vibrations from the ship’s engines). Hope the other passengers manage some better shots.

At the last moment, I spot some puffins! Only a few. Huddled on some of the ledges. I’m so excited that I forget to take any photographs, so you will just have to believe me.

We leave the cliffs and steer into deeper waters for the journey back to John o’Groats. And then we see more puffins – flying low across the water. Their wings seem to flap frantically, as if struggling to keep their plump little bodies in the air. (Again, I’m so busy tracking them with binoculars, that I fail to take any photographs.)

How wonderful to see puffins. At last.

We head back to John o’Groats, now looking very attractive in the sunshine. What a great day!

I am sad to leave my comfortable B&B, but also relieved the trip is over. It’s been a long month away from home and I haven’t felt very well for some reason.

Tomorrow I’m heading back down south to the Cairngorms, to join a friend as he tackles his last Munro.

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Miles walked today = 0

Birds seen = thousands!

Puffins seen = several – yay!!!

Photos of puffins taken = none

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