From the edge of the world 2021 – part 2

Clare has been monitoring the built structures around the island for signs of damage. She is adding to the ever-growing list of conservation work that needs to be done to maintain the important cultural heritage on the islands (for which St Kilda was awarded one of its UNESCO World Heritage designations). All of the man-made structures are monitored – cottages, walls and cleits – and comparisons are made to earlier reports, to note any rocks that have moved. A certain percentage of cleits (the stone store houses constructed by the St Kildans that are unique to this island) are part of an ongoing restoration programme, which involves the help of volunteer work parties and skilled craftspeople under the supervision of the island archaeologist. Due to the pandemic, restoration work did not occur in 2020; this year, there will be a reduced team of workers due to continued restrictions.

Craig has repaired some damaged Leach’s storm petrel boxes and is now monitoring them for nesting activity. St Kilda is an incredibly important site for this rare seabird, with 94% of the UK population nesting here. The adults are starting to show interest in the boxes, which can only be checked by someone who is specially licensed to do so. They will be monitored right through until October, when hopefully the last chicks will have fledged.

We recently visited the neighbouring island of Dun to search for puffin eggs in the burrows on the hillside. The nests were carefully marked and we’ll return twice over the next couple of months to gauge hatching and fledging numbers. This will give us important information about the breeding success of these charismatic birds.

It was truly an honour to be able to visit Dun, which is home to thousands of breeding seabirds. We can admire its craggy slopes from our house but it is hard to access and fragile to walk on, due to the number of birds and nest sites. We were absolutely delighted to find nesting sites of kittiwakes, a seabird that has been steadily in decline on the island for several years. Our fantastic day boat operators have been incredibly helpful in noting other kittiwake colonies on the neighbouring island of Boreray, and they are actively involved in sending us information when they discover sites on their passenger trips.