While anchored overnight at St Kilda, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of seabirds, the Emma Jane had a very small, unexpected visitor. Head guide Lynsey was woken in the early hours by Jasmin, the Stewardess on board, as she set about her preparations for the day. When Jasmin arrived in the saloon to start getting the breakfast service ready, she quickly spotted the unexpected tiny guest — a puffling! The young puffin had evidently boarded the vessel during the night, after fledging from its burrow. It had clearly spent some time exploring Emma Jane, leaving behind a trail of "evidence" on the bridge, in the saloon, and even down into the guest cabins. We assumed it must have become confused by the lights and vessels in Village Bay and lost it way on its first journey to the open sea.
A team effort was required to carefully move furniture and catch the puffling. The puffling would only be around 6 weeks old but it was clearly strong and healthy. As soon as it was safely secured, after a quick photo, Lynsey expertly released it back to sea, where it immediately took to the waves. It was a pity it was too early for our guests to see the puffling at close quarters, but it was important to release the bird as soon as possible..
Young seabirds, when fledging, can sometimes become confused by artificial lights from buildings and vessels. As a company, we make a concerted effort to reduce light pollution whenever possible, particularly during the seabird fledging season. Fortunately, in this case, we were able to safely catch and release the puffling back to sea.
The best way of telling you what a marvellous time I had on this cruise is that I have arrived home and promptly booked another for next year, 8 nights instead of 6, on the “Lucy Mary” again! From ease of booking with Emma to arriving back in Oban on the final day, everything was given careful attention in order to ensure the trip was a special one. The boat, “Lucy Mary”, is extremely comfortable, well-equipped and of a design enabling me to spend hours with binoculars looking out over the sea or mountains in the hope of spotting wildlife, whether outside in the sun or snugly inside in the rain or wind! An important feature is the presence of a wildlife spotter, Indy, whose knowledge and enthusiasm enabled me to notice and identify many animals, birds and plants that I would not have seen by myself. This was also greatly contributed to by skipper Rob’s ability to take us to the ideal places to see the wildlife, as well as beautiful and spectacular scenery and buildings. In addition he chose routes suited to the weather conditions, and ensured that all of our wishes were considered. The food prepared by chef Perry was really excellent, with exceptionally good and varied vegetarian dishes for me. We had beautifully presented fresh fruit included at every breakfast, and fresh cakes or cookies to greet us on our afternoon returns to the boat after onshore visits. These excursions were varied and interesting, with a high degree of flexibility to satisfy all of us. Last but not least, Abbie kept all the accommodation on board clean and neat, adding many nice touches such as prettily-folded napkins, plus all the hard work involved in serving the food, cleaning the cabins and many other tasks. All the crew were friendly, cheerful and skilful. There are many more complimentary things I could say but really I’d just like to thank all of you for a uniquely memorable holiday
Stephanie: 18 September 2023The Small Isles and sea lochs: Wildlife havens