Sule Skerry

Forty miles due west of Orkney, two rocky outcrops break the surface of the Atlantic. Known as Sule Skerry and Sule Stack, both are important bird colonies, the former for Puffins and the latter for Gannets. In June 2002 the Halton ran an expedition to drop the Sule Skerry Ringing Group on Sule Skerry, where they were to live for the next week.

Some 40,000 puffins live and breed on the small island, their burrows free from predation due to the lack of any terrestrial mammals. Built for a life underwater rather than above, the birds are ungainly flyers and are easily caught in a fine net strung between upright poles.

A numbered ring is placed on the leg and the bird released. Some birds still have the rings left from previous capture, in which case the number is recorded.

Suke Stack

The stack lies within 30 minutes of the Skerry. With the weather conditions absolutely perfect, a landing was successfully attempted on the south side and rings put on a good proportion of the gannets.