A Tale of Two Islands - Skrudur

If Papey was a pleasure then Skrudur was a challenge!

Skrudur Island.

Much steeper than Papey, Skrudur rises quickly from sea-level so that the island is a mixture of large cliffs and steep inclines. Traversing the island often meant using ropes and walkways so as to get to the study colonies safely.

Challenging terrain but a spectacular island.

The landing site in the bay at the bottom and the pathway to the field hut.

Unlike Papey, Skrudur is uninhabited but does have a place to stay for the owners when visiting the island. This is in the form of a basic field hut sheltered from the elements by a large overhang in the rock.

Accommodation on Skrudur.

Although a challenge to work and stay on, Skrudur is the type of island I always enjoy visiting. Seabirds are an incredible group of species that live and breed in some of the most trying circumstances and I always enjoy it when working with them requires that feeling of wild living and accomplishment.

Accessing the colonies on Skrudur means setting up rope systems to safely work on steep slopes above cliff edges.

Skrudur was another great site to work with guillemots, but, as with Papey, Skrudur is a seabird island and the other species certainly put on a show.

Fulmar.

The fulmar eggs were beginning to hatch.

A young and fluffy fulmar chick.

Fulmar in flight with the perfectly straight wings indicative of the tubenose (albtaross, petrel, shearwater, fulmar) family.

Not as many as on Papey, but still an incredible amount of puffins.

Skrudur had two particular elements that were quite special: a gannet colony and a puffin cave! Puffins burrow underground so as to lay their eggs in a location that is safe from predators. Hiding away is the important part, so if there is a way to do this without expending energy on digging a burrow then they utilise it and Skrudur has a cave in which they can do this!

The entrance to the cave looking back out. On the ground are tracks made by puffins entering the cave.

Looking into the cave gives a sense of just how dark it is in there, but not how big!

Inside the cave expands from the entrance in to a large cavern. The ground is all rock so there is no place to burrow, but there is no need to either. In the pitch black the puffins that have chosen to nest in the cave can do so safely on the ground!

Puffin and puffling in the cave.

Puffling in a way that I have never seen before.

The puffins do put on quite the show and it was great to see them in the cave, all around the island and in the air.

Puffin.

But the main spectacle of Skrudur lies in its gannet colony. There is a gannet colony at Langanes as well, but the one on Skrudur was alongside our guillemot colonies and so seeing it so closely is always a privilege.

Gannet colony.

The gannet chicks were still fairly young but growing quickly.

In such a colony the activity is always big!

The gannets were constantly flying past.

As one of the largest seabirds in the northern hemisphere gannets are always impressive to see.

Gannets are powerfully built for diving in to the water at high speed.

The piercing blue eye is quite charismatic!

Skrudur and Papey made my time in Iceland as memorable as it is. They were both incredible seabird islands in very different ways and it is always a privilege to be working in such locations. Of course, after all the distractions both Papey and Skrudur, along with Iceland itself, offer it is about time I wrote about the guillemots I was working with…!