Braced against the rolling of the boat, I sipped scalding tea from the mug cradled in my cold hands and watched the misty blue hills of Scotland materialise ahead. Wandering Albatross, our 43ft steel cutter, raced ahead of a brisk west wind. Restless grey-green swells rose and tumbled all around, their crests shredded into white ribbons.
Close to starboard, a fulmar, one of my favourite seabirds, dipped across the waves, sweeping in effortless loops. Softly shaded in grey and white, the beautiful bird danced on the wind like an ethereal being from another world.
Late that afternoon, Gary and I made landfall in Oban. After an 11-day passage from the Azores, we revelled in the luxury of hot showers, unbroken sleep and easy access to fresh provisions, but we couldn’t linger. This summer, our goal was to visit some of Scotland’s far-flung seabird colonies, and the breeding season was already well underway.
Almost half of Europe’s breeding seabirds nest in the UK, with about 70% of those concentrated in Scotland. The impressive 18,000km coastline,
