The Seabird Colony

St. Kilda is not alone out in the North Atlantic, it is the main island in a small archipelago including several other smaller islands and large sea stacks, which together form one of the most important seabird colonies in the north Atlantic.  In fact it is the archipelago that is known by the name St. Kilda; the main island with the only former settlement is Hirta.   

We left behind the main island, here silhouetted behind us, and headed for the bird rich other islands.

You get some idea of the density of the bird population from these two pictures.  It was utterly amazing, the air filled with the screeching birds.  This is one of the world's largest colonies of nesting Northern Gannets, at 30,000 pair.  Up to 49,000 pairs of Leach's Petrels nest here, 90% of the European population.  There are 136,000 pair of Atlantic Puffins, and 67,000 pair of Northern Fulmars, both important parts of the St. Kildan diet.  

It's hard to believe the St. Kildans climbed these cliffs to gather both eggs and the birds themselves.  Significant lives were lost in the process, and all the islands apart from Hirta are treacherous to land on.

The largest island is Boreray, and it was here we spotted some of the feral sheep that are one of the oldest breeds in Britain.

Zooming in you can spot them, calmly grazing on incredibly steep slopes.  And consider the shepherds  too!  These are now called Boreray sheep, the feral descendatns of the sheep that were left on the island when St. Kilda was evacuated.

Most of the sheep on Hirta and Soay are the ancient Soay breed.  These are the rarest and most primitive sheep in Britain assumed to be descendants of the original domesticated Neolithic sheep.  All the 'improved' breed that was on Hirta at the time of evacuation were removed at the time.

We soon left the silhouette of Boreray in our wake and headed for the north coast of Scotland.  We both thought St. Kilda was the most fascinating visit of the trip.