Getting there Clifftop clowns Seabird city · 2019. 5. 27. · Clifftop clowns Puffins, or...
Transcript of Getting there Clifftop clowns Seabird city · 2019. 5. 27. · Clifftop clowns Puffins, or...
Seabird cityWelcome to Hermaness National Nature Reserve, managed by Scottish Natural Heritage.
In summer, the cliffs of Hermaness are the New York ofthe seabird world: a noisy, bustling and often smellymetropolis that is home to more than 100,000 breedingbirds. Approaching these magnificent cliffs across the dark moorland, you get no indication of what is to come – no sound of crashing waves, no view of the sea – and you will be literally stopped in your tracks as you reach the precipice.
The exposed, jagged cliffs, which tower up to 170 metres above the foaming sea, are teeming with life: gannets, puffins, fulmars, guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes and shags are among the 15 different species. The gannets alone number about 30,000 pairs, making this one of the top six breeding sitesin the UK for this massive, elegant bird.
Smashing but smellyThere are several gannetries along the Reserve’s western coast, one of the best being The Neap. You will probably smell and hear the birds long before you see them: the fishy stench of the guano, and a gurgling, gargling cacophony. Then, as you round a small headland, you see them: thousands of gannets squabbling over territory on thewhite-stained cliffs.
Watch as the birds dive: one of the most remarkable spectacles on a Reserve that is brimming with impressive sights. Their amazing vertical descents reach speeds ofmore than 60mph, evolution having equipped them withskulls that can absorb the shock of smashing into the waterat such a velocity.
Clifftop clownsPuffins, or ‘Tammie Norries’ as they are known in Shetland, grace the cliff-tops from mid-April to early August. Several thousand pairs nest here, making it one of the biggest colonies in Britain.
Landing clumsily with their colourful, almost parrot-like beaks full of sand eels, and popping in and out of their burrows in the soft turf, they seem almost comical. Having spent the winter at sea, travelling as far west as Newfoundland, puffin couples usually return to the same burrow each spring.
They can dig these out using their powerful legs and beaks, although they often use old rabbit burrows.
Land of the giantsHermaness, or ‘Herma’s headland’, is named aftera mythical giant who fought with a neighbouring giant,Saxa, over a beautiful mermaid. They hurled enormous boulders at each other over the Burra Firth, one of which landed in the sea and became Out Stack, Britain’s most northerly lump of rock.
The main rock type at Hermaness is gneiss, created under immense heat and pressure more than 450 million years ago. This process also produced some of the best crystals of the minerals kyanite and staurolite in Britain, although they are hard to spot. These ancient rocks, with pink veins of granite running through them, have been sculpted into incredible shapes by the power of the Atlantic, creating stacks, caves, natural arches and steep-sided clefts known as geos.
Just off the coast is Muckle Flugga, a tiny island with a lighthouse on it. This used to be Britain’s most northerly inhabited island, but the lighthouse is now automated,so the accolade has been lost.
Puffin
Gannets
Muckle Flugga
Hermaness National Nature Reserve
Pirates of the airwaysCrossing to the cliffs from the car park in summer, you might encounter great skuas, known locally as ‘bonxies’. Protective of their nests, they dive-bomb passing walkers. Hold your arm or a stick above your head to ward them off, although they rarely make contact.
They are more of a threat to their avian neighbours, and will kill and eat seabirds even as big as gannets. More often they grab a bird’s wingtip to stall them and make them disgorge their catch – a free meal for the predator.
With almost a thousand breeding pairs, Hermaness hosts the world’s third largest colony of great skuas, but the population hasn’t always been this healthy. In 1831, there were just three pairs, but landowner and naturalist Dr Lawrence Edmondston set up a protective programme, starting a long history of conservation that continues today.
Phot
ogra
phs
by Lo
rne
Gill/
SNH
, Gly
n Sa
tterle
y/SN
H, J
onat
han
Swal
e. M
ain
map
by
Ashw
orth
Map
s an
d In
terp
reta
tion
Ltd. I
SBN
: 978
-1-8
5397
-866
-1 ©
Sco
ttish
Nat
ural
Her
itage
201
9.
BelmontGutcher
Mid Yell
ToftBurravoe
Ulsta
HaroldswickBaltasound
North Roe
Hillswick
UNST
FETLAR
YELL
MAINLAND
Yell Sound
ColgraveSound
A968
A968
HermanessNNR
0
0
10miles
10 20km Burrafirth
Getting thereHermaness NNR is 3 miles/4.8km north-west of Haroldswick on Unst. It takes two ferry journeys to reach Unst from Shetland Mainland. The first is from Toft to Ulsta on Yell. This is followed by a 17 mile/27.4km drive north to Gutcher for the ferry to Belmont on Unst.
There is a bus service from Lerwick to Haroldswick, but it is not possible to enjoy the Reserve and get back in a day.
Need to knowVisitors are advised not to wear waterproof over-trousers near the cliff edge and on steep sea-facing slopes because a slip could result in you sliding over the edge.
Please avoid sensitive nesting areas (shown on Reserve map) from May to September.
Support this NNR at www.nature.scot/donate-nnr
For more information please contact:Scottish Natural Heritage, Stewart Building, Alexandra Wharf, Lerwick, Shetland ZE1 0LL Tel: 01463 667600
www.nnr.scot
Great skua
Scotland’s National Nature Reserves
VISIT
www.nnr.scotwww.nature.scot
Seabird cityWelcome to Hermaness National Nature Reserve, managed by Scottish Natural Heritage.
In summer, the cliffs of Hermaness are the New York ofthe seabird world: a noisy, bustling and often smellymetropolis that is home to more than 100,000 breedingbirds. Approaching these magnificent cliffs across the dark moorland, you get no indication of what is to come – no sound of crashing waves, no view of the sea – and you will be literally stopped in your tracks as you reach the precipice.
The exposed, jagged cliffs, which tower up to 170 metres above the foaming sea, are teeming with life: gannets, puffins, fulmars, guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes and shags are among the 15 different species. The gannets alone number about 30,000 pairs, making this one of the top six breeding sitesin the UK for this massive, elegant bird.
Smashing but smellyThere are several gannetries along the Reserve’s western coast, one of the best being The Neap. You will probably smell and hear the birds long before you see them: the fishy stench of the guano, and a gurgling, gargling cacophony. Then, as you round a small headland, you see them: thousands of gannets squabbling over territory on thewhite-stained cliffs.
Watch as the birds dive: one of the most remarkable spectacles on a Reserve that is brimming with impressive sights. Their amazing vertical descents reach speeds ofmore than 60mph, evolution having equipped them withskulls that can absorb the shock of smashing into the waterat such a velocity.
Clifftop clownsPuffins, or ‘Tammie Norries’ as they are known in Shetland, grace the cliff-tops from mid-April to early August. Several thousand pairs nest here, making it one of the biggest colonies in Britain.
Landing clumsily with their colourful, almost parrot-like beaks full of sand eels, and popping in and out of their burrows in the soft turf, they seem almost comical. Having spent the winter at sea, travelling as far west as Newfoundland, puffin couples usually return to the same burrow each spring.
They can dig these out using their powerful legs and beaks, although they often use old rabbit burrows.
Land of the giantsHermaness, or ‘Herma’s headland’, is named aftera mythical giant who fought with a neighbouring giant,Saxa, over a beautiful mermaid. They hurled enormous boulders at each other over the Burra Firth, one of which landed in the sea and became Out Stack, Britain’s most northerly lump of rock.
The main rock type at Hermaness is gneiss, created under immense heat and pressure more than 450 million years ago. This process also produced some of the best crystals of the minerals kyanite and staurolite in Britain, although they are hard to spot. These ancient rocks, with pink veins of granite running through them, have been sculpted into incredible shapes by the power of the Atlantic, creating stacks, caves, natural arches and steep-sided clefts known as geos.
Just off the coast is Muckle Flugga, a tiny island with a lighthouse on it. This used to be Britain’s most northerly inhabited island, but the lighthouse is now automated,so the accolade has been lost.
Puffin
Gannets
Muckle Flugga
Hermaness National Nature Reserve
Pirates of the airwaysCrossing to the cliffs from the car park in summer, you might encounter great skuas, known locally as ‘bonxies’. Protective of their nests, they dive-bomb passing walkers. Hold your arm or a stick above your head to ward them off, although they rarely make contact.
They are more of a threat to their avian neighbours, and will kill and eat seabirds even as big as gannets. More often they grab a bird’s wingtip to stall them and make them disgorge their catch – a free meal for the predator.
With almost a thousand breeding pairs, Hermaness hosts the world’s third largest colony of great skuas, but the population hasn’t always been this healthy. In 1831, there were just three pairs, but landowner and naturalist Dr Lawrence Edmondston set up a protective programme, starting a long history of conservation that continues today.
Photographs by Lorne Gill/SN
H, G
lyn Satterley/SNH
, Jonathan Swale. M
ain map by Ashw
orth Maps and Interpretation Ltd. ISBN
: 978-1-85397-866-1 © Scottish N
atural Heritage 2019.
Belmont Gutcher
Mid Yell
ToftBurravoe
Ulsta
Haroldswick Baltasound
North Roe
Hillswick
UNST
FETLAR
YELL
MAINLAND
Yell
Soun
d
ColgraveSound
A968
A968
HermanessNNR
0
0
10miles
1020kmBurrafirth
Getting thereHermaness NNR is 3 miles/4.8km north-west of Haroldswick on Unst. It takes two ferry journeys to reach Unst from Shetland Mainland. The first is from Toft to Ulsta on Yell. This is followed by a 17 mile/27.4km drive north to Gutcher for the ferry to Belmont on Unst.
There is a bus service from Lerwick to Haroldswick, but it is not possible to enjoy the Reserve and get back in a day.
Need to knowVisitors are advised not to wear waterproof over-trousers near the cliff edge and on steep sea-facing slopes because a slip could result in you sliding over the edge.
Please avoid sensitive nesting areas (shown on Reserve map) from May to September.
Support this NNR at www.nature.scot/donate-nnr
For more information please contact:Scottish Natural Heritage, Stewart Building, Alexandra Wharf, Lerwick, Shetland ZE1 0LL Tel: 01463 667600
www.nnr.scot
Great skua
Scotland’s National Nature ReservesVISIT
www.nnr.scot www.nature.scot
.
.
.
To Haroldswick
BluescuddaKame
Mio Tong
Tonga Stack
Longa Stacks
Grunka Hellier
The Greing
Humla Stack
Clingra Stack
Flodda StackLeeraStack
Sothers Stack
Kame of Flouravoug
The Gord
The Framd The Noup
Wurs Stack
Iron Geo
Brim Ness
ShordaHellier
Fiska Geo
TheNess
NorwickHevda
Grisa Lee
RootStacks
Wiln
a G
eo
Muckle Flugga
Out Stack
Tipta SkerryRumblings
Vesta Skerry
Mill Fiel
SothersBrecks
Libbers Hill170
MousleeHill
Tonga150
SaxaVord
HermanessHill200
HermanessHill200
Lighthouse
Broch
Loos
s Wic
k
Milldale Burn
Hove Burn
Burn of Winnaswarta Dale
Fiska Wick
Bu
r ra
Fi r
t h
Burn of
ScournasdaleLo
ch o
f Cl i f
f
Sandfield
Buddabrake
Sotland
Stackhoull
Burrafirth
B9086
ToolieThe Fidd
The Fild
Neap
Saito
Holey Kame
Greff
Goturm’sHole
A walk on the edgeThe route from the car park to the cliffs on the western side of Hermaness is just over 2km, mostly on gravel paths and boardwalk. A further 2.5km along cliff-top trails and up a steep hillside brings you to the ruins of the lighthouse signalling station. The hill top is a sensitive nesting area so please do not go further than this during the breeding season (May to September).
www.nnr.scot
Riot of colourSalt-tolerant plants such as angelica, red campion, thrift, Scots lovage, spring squill and lesser sea spurrey cling to cliff ledges, bringing an ever-changing mosaic of colour to this harsh environment. The more sheltered, eastern side of the peninsula is home to three species of hawkweed that are unique to Shetland.
Inland, the bulk of the Reserve is rough moorland – blanket bog and peaty pools that provide a habitat for heather, cottongrass, blaeberry, sphagnum mosses and colourful orchids. Golden plover, dunlin and snipe shelter here, along with Arctic skuas and great skuas. A few pairs of rare red-throated divers – ‘raingoose’ on Shetland – also breed on secluded moorland lochans.
Guillemot
Sphagnum moss
Golden plover
Fulmar nesting amongstsalt-tolerant flowers on cliff
© Ashworth Maps and Interpretation Ltd 2012. Based on Ordnance Survey mapping. © Crown copyright and database right 2012. Allrights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number SNH 100017908.
Reserve boundaryCar parkInformation CentreSensitive areaSurfaced roadTrackWestern pathCliff path
2 ¾ miles / 4.6 km (return)Allow2 hrs
Western path
A walk across the wild moorland interior of Hermaness to the spectacular cliffs on the west coast.
A varied path with firm gravel, boardwalk and grassy sections. One short, steep climb and several steps. The final 150 metres are grassy and uneven.
7 ¼ miles / 11.6 km (return including Western path)Allow 5 hrs
Cliff path
This cliff top walk runs from the end of the Western path south to the Neap gannetry and north to the derelict light-house signalling station.
A mostly firm grassy path that is uneven and boggy in places. Two steep sections.
www.nature.scot