Isle of May Bird Observatory

During both World Wars the main thrust of Germany’s U-boat campaigns concentrated on the Western approaches to the British Isles, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, which were far more lucrative and safer for U-boats to operate in than the North Sea and the east coast of Britain. Nevertheless, the U-boat threat was still present in the latter areas with the sinking of and damage to, many naval and mercantile ships, as well as the laying of minefields, bearing testimony to the U-boats’ attentions. Ron Morris here provides an account of the main incidents involving U-boats within the limited context of the Firth of Forth and its approaches. The full article (2MB) can be viewed below or downloaded.

An article kindly sent by John Swallow, regular Isle of May Bird Observatory visitor, on his first week-long visit in Spring 1985. Enjoy John’s reflections of his first stay at the Obs and the highs and lows of early spring on the island…

My latest trip to the Isle of May was cancelled this year due to the Covid-19 lockdown so like many I have had a bit of extra time to think about some of the great times I have enjoyed on the island.

You can never repeat your first visit and mine was made as a day trip on 14th October 1984. It was a short trip, from just after 9am to 2pm so there was some hurried birding on the island as we logged 28 species. Not surprisingly given the time of year there was a scattering of Fieldfare, Redwing and Song Thrush but the star that day was a male Ring Ouzel which was shown to all at the ringing hut. A couple of Short-eared Owls were testing the thrushes which all seemed more than a match for them. Two “purps” on the rocks were nice to see and on the return crossing three Velvet Scoter.

As we left on Jimmy’s fishing boat (the May Princess doesn’t run in October so this was an Edinburgh Branch SOC fieldtrip) and as a new Trainee bird ringer, I vowed to make more visits to taste again the special atmosphere of the island and of course see and ring lots of great birds.

I managed to arrange a place in the Low Light the following spring. Places were at a premium and I had managed to squeeze on as “an extra” with a few other “non-birders” and a couple of “mice-men”, Graham Trigg and Les who were continuing their genetic studies of the islands isolated mouse population.

Mike Harris had kindly agreed to be my ringing Trainer while I was on the island and at Midday on the 20th April we met in Crail ready for the trip. As a more seasoned May visitor Mike was testing the NE wind, he  wasn’t optimistic and when Jimmy arrived after telephoning Fife Ness Coastguard and the May Lighthouse he duly cancelled the crossing (legend has it that local football fixtures always played a part too!). The NE winds continued through Sunday but Monday was calm and once Jimmy had unloaded his crabs and he’d made another check with the May Lighthouse, we were off at 14:30.

Safely delivered to the Low light we headed out and I helped the “mice men” placing some of the Lulworth traps. A nice Wheatear was flitting over the rocks and turf and the island list was up and running. Tuesday arrived with a 5-6 north-easterly, an early morning seawatch proved fruitless (wrong end of the island, these were the days before Steely showed the North Ness was the place to be). Fourteen “purps” graced the harbour rocks, and a few Wheatears clung on, a single Lapwing was displaying on top of the island and a female Merlin dashed past before perching on the Beacon later that day.

I wasn’t finding any birds in the heligoland traps during my trap rounds but on Wednesday I managed to twinkle a phyllosc into a catching box. Safely bagged I now had to ask Mike to help. This early Willow Warbler was a ringing tick for me – a belated thank you Mike. The afternoons birding produced a single Swallow past Altarstanes landing, the light then being excellent I enjoyed watching and photographing the many seabirds and reading Puffin colour rings from the small “Puffin hide” near the Low Light.

On the May you are at the mercy of the weather and on Thursday with north-easterly winds it was a bitterly cold and snowed, so needless to say there were few passerines about and even the sea birds had decided to leave the island.

The last day dawned with the wind now in the west and trap rounds produced a single Chiffchaff and a Robin. Birding in the afternoon was brightened with a calling Whimbrel past the low light showing some sign that migration was underway. In contrast a biscuit coloured sub-adult Glaucous Gull near the South Horn which then drifted north along the western cliffs was probably a result of the weeks cold north easterly winds.

With the wind direction now firmly in the west, our departure on the Saturday was in no doubt but heavy hailstorms and a dusting of snow returned that morning and not surprisingly the Heligoland traps were empty again. So the week finished with just three birds ringed,  and a species total of 37. It was my first taste of life in the Low Light and I have to say we had a great time and Jaap’s log call of 2 Shelduck will forever ring in my ears.

With thanks to other attendees: Graham Triggs, Lesley Wobble, Jim Brockie, Jaap and Joyce Marks

John Swallow

Enjoy more from John and others as we publish more visitors recollections in future.

The Isle of May Bird Observatory officially turns the ripe old age of 85 this month. Scotland’s first observatory and the UK’s longest running!

Here is page one of the chatty log which begins on 28th September 1934 with the arrival of a party of 4; W B Alexander, R M Lockley, HFD Elder and EV Watson, great names of 20th Century ornithology!

Among early activity they started building a Heligoland trap.

Good birds were few by the looks of it but the “Cole” Tit on the 30th Sep would still be a good island bird today!

Lets hope the party to arrive today will be able to celebrate the observatory’s birthday with good arrival of migrants!

As posted back in early April,thanks to funding support from SNH, we began and have now completed the renewal of the Bain Trap.

The Bain trap is arguably one of the most successful traps on the island for catching migrant passerine birds for ringing. It was first built between 1948 and 1949, single handedly by John Bain, one of the Lighthouse Keepers. Perhaps he felt he had a lot of spare time?

In 1949 the trap materials cost £73 – equivalent to around £2500 today by my calculations, and yes it can be confirmed that building a heligoland trap is not cheap and a good deal more than inflation might predict! We are grateful to SNH for a grant towards the cost and to donors who provided funding support and not least to those volunteers who undertook the task of building it in their own time without them it would have been an impossible task. Built in a period of around 4 weeks it was a speedier job than that of John Bain and has meant the trap is already in action and catching migrants. The finishing touches of course take longer as the bushes and vines need to grow to provide that attractive cover, on the otherwise treeless island, for those migrating small birds as they stopover.

The trap will be used by bird ringers for decades to come and will maintain the catching effort on the island that we’ve seen over the previous 69 years since it was first put in place. The images below tell a little of the story…

and there is a piece also on the SNH NNR Blog which covers the work – click here

Thanks to funding support from SNH we have begun the renewal of the Bain Trap, one of the Heligoland traps on the island used to catch migrant birds for ringing. Having been first built between 1948 and 1949 it was the third trap to be constructed by the observatory, in this case single handedly by John Bain, one of the Lighthouse Keepers.

There is always debate among visiting ringers as to which of the traps works best and catches most birds, most agree it is the Bain Trap and great care is being taken to maintain the exact footprint and funnel profile of the trap as it has been proven to work so effectively.

The volunteer work parties are out on the island now and are mid-construction. Progress can be seen in the images here:

Updates on the finished trap will be posted as soon as available.