An Unexpected Visitor

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.