Suilven and Cul Mor from Handa

Went over to Handa Island this morning on the short ferry trip. Handa is part of the Scourie estate, but is a wildlife reserve run by Scottish Wildlife Trust and famous for seabirds.  There were loads of fulmars and razorbills, some bonxies (great skuas) and a few puffins, but at lot fewer birds than the last time I visited with M, which was about 1994. It is a little early for most of the birds, another week or two would make a big difference, but the wardens are waiting to see how many will come this year after the devastation of last year's avian flue.

Extras are: a puffin (of course, who can resist them!); a trio of razorbill pairs; some fulmars and a skylark. Fulmars are in the same family as albatrosses (tubenoses), but they are much more agile than albatrosses at taking off and landing! I was struck by the similarity of their mating display to each other, open bills while cackling away in what is presumably a sexy voice to them (see entry for 3rd January 2019). Albatrosses mate for life so I looked up fulmars and, yes, they also mate for life. So next time you see a fulmar don't think of projectile vomiting, think of commitment.