A wonderful visit to Shetland — June 2025

Visiting the Shetland Islands has been on my destination wishlist for a number of years, and last summer that dream became a reality! I spent just under two weeks there, taking the overnight ferry from Aberdeen, which was surprisingly smooth and easy going! My husband and I were based on the mainland on the West coast, with a lovely view overlooking a sea loch. Here are some of the images I took on my phone throughout our stay.

The local neighbours that visited us every morning!

Left: Still daylight just before midnight!, Middle: The Knab close to Lerwick town centre, Right: Meeting the locals!

One of the first bird species that I saw, and almost every day while travelling to different locations, was the fulmar, a stunning seabird that’s related to the albatross. I first spotted them on the cliffs close to the centre of the ‘capital’ of Shetland, Lerwick. They were nesting not too far from the walking path and were also gliding around the cliffs constantly. We also got to see them at Sumburgh Head, the southerly tip of Shetland, and despite being hit by gusty winds on the cliff tops, it didn’t deter the birds from taking off effortlessly to go out and search for food and return. As well as fulmars, there were gannets, puffins, and cormorants dotted up and down the cliff faces, getting lovely close-up views of the puffins too!

Fulmar and puffin taken from Sumburgh Head

Taken on my phone camera, howing how close some of the puffins were!

There were some wonderful beaches that we visited on the southern side of Shetland, and it was on the beaches where I got close to some other shorebird species that I hadn’t seen so close before! The shore birds included turnstones, ringed plover, and sanderlings that fed along the shoreline as the tide went out and back in throughout the day. Sitting out on the exposed rocks during low tide included common and arctic terns, and I even got to see an arctic skua (or parasitic jaeger) for the first time at one of the local beaches! One very special encounter was seeing a creche of female eider ducks and their ducklings in a small sea loch. The males were not present at the time, because at that time of the year, almost all the males go out to sea together to moult, leaving the females to care for the young ducklings in the shelter of the coves.

Left: Ringed plover taking off! Middle: Arctic Skua, the pirate of the sea, Right: A curious ringed plover

Female eider duck with a couple fo the ducklings that formed the creche (I remember counting roughly twenty ducklings!)

My favourite experience from the whole trip was going out on a boat to the Isle of Noss, which is home to one of the largest colonies of northern gannets. We went out with Shetland Seabird Tours, and the captain was very knowledgeable about all the bird species that reside on Noss, and gave us the best views across the whole trip. It was the calmest day for us across the two weeks to go out on the boat, and when we left the harbour and approached the cliffs, it was an amazing sight to behold! We heard nothing but gannet calls echoing from the rock faces, along with sightings of the juvenile gannets that were hanging out on the lower partsof the cliffs in groups. However, we did witness one sad sight while taking in all the sights, sounds and smells of the gannet colony. One gannet had unfortunately perished due to getting caught up in a fishing net that formed part of a nest on the cliff face. It was a harsh but important reminder about how fragile the marine ecosystem is, and that we as humans should do better to protect and preserve all natural habitats. As the boat left the colony, we had a trail of gannets following the boat. Fish was then thrown out for the gannets, and we got to see the wonderful spectacle of gannets diving at speeds of over 60mph just metres from the boat! It was a cacophony of splashes and gannets calling in earnest, and it was just an amazing event to witness and capture.

Top three: Gannets during their feeding time, I’ll never forget the sound of them hitting the water! Bottom two: The sad sight of one gannet that got caught on fish netting, showing how much human impact still has on nature

I really hope that I can return to the Shetland Islands again, not just for the birds that I saw plenty of on this first trip, but also the views across the island were stunning, even on the wetter days that we had! If you wish to see the video clips of my time on Shetland, you can view them on my YouTube channel.