Trodday & Flodigarry Islands

14th July 2015

Every summer a small group of us visit some of our remoter islands to try and carry out natural history recording and this year we managed a trip to Trodday and Flodigarry Islands led by Stephen Bungard. Similar to Isay, Trodday is a wintering site for Barnacle Geese. A total of 27 bird species were recorded and most were fairly predictable. Of particular interest was a small group of Puffins which we could not prove were breeding, but certainly appeared to be nest prospecting so perhaps a potential breeding colony for the future. On the trip to Flodigarry Island we hugged the spectacular basalt cliffs south of Balmacqueen. These held two colonies of Kittiwakes, good numbers of breeding Fulmars and several pairs of Guillemots and Razorbills. Flodigarry Island was almost completely burnt several springs ago and the vegetation is still recovering. Less diverse than Trodday we recorded 20 species including Wren and Reed Bunting. About 25 pairs of Arctic Terns were breeding on Sgeir na Eireann. Nick Hodgetts found a rare liverwort which made his day. Good numbers of Twite on both islands suggested that some young had managed to fledge despite the weather. There was a nice pod of Common Dolphins just offshore. Another superb day island hopping, always great exploring new areas and coastlines which are otherwise inaccessible.

Bob

THE BOOK

"A glorious little gem"

AMAZON

"A book such as this has to look backwards and the author does so succinctly, looking at the work of several of the pioneering naturalists before picking out the publications of JA Harvie-Brown and the Rev. Hugh Macpherson. I know this book fills a real gap in the information available for the Isle of Skye and it will surely sell well at local bookshops."

Andrew Currie Miscellany West Highland Free Press

"A total of 238 species have been recorded, with 14 of those 'red listed' as of high conservation concern ... another innovation has been the inclusion of Gaelic names for some birds. While this is not uncommon in a few other books, the addition of some regional Gaelic names is very unusual and very welcome."

Ray Collier Country Diary 'Up in the Skye' The Guardian

"Illustrated with beautiful photographs of current birdlife on the island, the publication also features sketches by Jean Thomas of The Little Gallery, Portnalong, stimulating the reader's interest further and allowing them to identify species they encounter on Skye."

The Hebridean