Gannets on Sule Skerry

An hugely enjoyable day out to the uninhabited and remote island of Sule Skerry. A friend organised the boat and the group- ten of us, sailing from Stromness on the two hour trip out to the skerry, which is about 40 miles west of mainland Orkney. From the boat we saw several sooty shearwaters, stormy petrels and Risso's dolphins. All too far or fast for decent shots. The gannets were easier. The island holds thousands of breeding puffins, which are all off to sea now. The landscape is rocky with vegetation lush from all the guano, and soil honeycombed with puffin burrows. On the way back we detoured to circle Sule Skerry, a few more miles west and which I think is impossible to land on from a boat. See the extras- ther lighthouse is on the Skerry and the other is the stack.