The Osprey

06/09/2026

Island interview by David Steel - NatureScot blog repost

Wednesday 2nd September: Over the years the island has had some great coverage both locally and nationally in the media as the island produces plenty of interesting stories. From the people who live on here to the amazing wildlife, it has all been covered.

As part of this profile, the local Courier newspaper interviewed reserve manager David Steel and it went live online, on their website. The link below takes you to the article, which is written by journalist Michael Alexander. So if you are interested in reading more about life on the island, please take a look:

David Steel spends nine months a year on the island in the Firth of Forth, counting puffins, watching seals and tracking the changing fortunes of Scotland’s seabirds.

03/09/2026

01/09/2026

Happy Birthday Lighthouse! by David Steel - NatureScot blog repost

Tuesday 1st September comments: Happy Birthday lighthouse. Today on 1st September 1816 the mighty ‘Stevenson’ lighthouse on the Isle of May shone across the North Sea for the first time.

The new lighthouse designed and constructed by Robert Stevenson became fully operational and as with all lighthouses, many stories followed and the Isle of May Stevenson lighthouse was no different…
Looking through the history certain dates stick out and as in 1843 the original fixed beam light was replaced by a revolving flash operated from oil but in 1885 that all changed. Work began to alter the light to operate on electricity and on the 1st December 1886, the Isle of May lighthouse became the first lighthouse in Scotland to be powered by this form of energy.
Converting to electricity was not cheap, to a fine tune of £16,000 but the new light had some impressive power as it beamed at 25,000 candle-power and gave four quick flashes in quick succession followed by an interval of 30 seconds. The highest recorded distance at which the light was visible was an impressive 61 nautical miles.

As a result of this change, more staff were needed and additional accommodation complete with boiler house, engine rooms and workshop were constructed in a small valley nearby. This also included a small dam to produce a fresh-water loch for cooling of engines. The engine room was then fitted with two 4.5 ton steam-powered engines which powered the light. These buildings later became known as Fluke Street and still stand today as they are home to the reserve staff who live on the island.

A total of seven families were required to live on the May as a result of these extra engines and during this time two fog horns were constructed at the north and south end of the island. These fog stations were powered by compressed air, generated from the island’s power plant in the centre of the island, and delivered by cast-iron pipes laid on the ground. The North horn provided a single blast of 7 seconds duration every 2¼ minutes and the South horn provided four 2½ second blasts of the same pitch every 2¼ minutes. The North and South horns did not blast together, being approximately one minute apart.

The lighthouse keepers finally departed the isle in 1989 but the history of this magnificent building lives on. Remember if you want to go inside this magnificent lighthouse, THIS weekend coming (5th-6th September), we have our Open Doors event which gives you FULL access to the lighthouse, so go book on a boat!!

18/08/2026

Open doors is on! 5th-6th September by David Steel - NatureScot blog repost

Permission granted! The Isle of May is renowned for its spectacular wildlife, but how much do you know about the islands rich cultural history? Come and join us for a special event where we open the doors of buildings normally under lock and key!

On Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th September we will have a special two day event which allows people access to all of the buildings across the Isle of May and learn about the island’s fascinating human history. You will be able to see inside the impressive engine rooms, explore inside Scotland’s first ever lighthouse known as the Beacon and visit inside the operational main Stevenson lighthouse. However that is not all as we’ll also be opening up the third lighthouse known as the low light and all of this free, once you have paid your boat fare. We’ll have guides on offer to share knowledge and so don’t miss out, come and enjoy the special island event.

There are still places available on the boats (please see boat times and details for further information). So don’t delay, book now for a great day out.

14/08/2026

Settled Sparrow by David Steel - a NatureScot blog repost

Friday 14th August comments: Well just a quick update to say that our rare visitor, the White-throated Sparrow is still present on the Isle of May! The bird was originally found in the thick vegetation near the bird observatory on 5th August and has taken a liking to the island.

Interestingly we have no ground predators (foxes, rats, stoats or weasels etc) and at this time of year, no avian predators (no hawks or falcons) so the Sparrow is well settled and enjoying life. This is only the second ever record of the species in the U.K in August and is still attracting admirers from afar.
How long the bird will remain is anyone guess, but whilst it is here, we’ll keep enjoying. With the autumn fast approaching we hope we’ll have plenty more interesting migrant birds and as usual we’ll keep you posted.

13/08/2026

Fulmar ringing! By David Steel - NatureScot blog repost

Thursday 13th August comments: Its that time of year again! The seabird breeding season is over…or is it!

It certainly is almost finished but even as we enter mid-August and the seabird breeding season is almost finished, we still have work to do. In recent times we’ve been working with our Fulmars and that may sound reasonable (it’s just another seabird right?) but until you work with Fulmars, you have no idea…let us explain…

Fulmars are very specialist seabirds as they are members of the tubenose family; they have the ability to excrete salt from seawater in a tube on top of the mouth (basically acts as a desalination unit). The species is very long living with records of birds of forty years old whilst they do not breed until they are 6-8 years old, so as I say very specialist.

However if you’ve ever been close to a Fulmar, you’ll remember it for one thing; its defensive mechanism… The species has the ability to fend off attackers by firing an oily fishy substance in their direction and boy if it hits you, you smell for days! That is why Fulmars are very rarely predated and that’s why scientists grimace when it comes to working with them.

On the Isle of May we have almost 300 pairs and in recent times we’ve been ringing the chicks on the island and as you could imagine, it’s been a bit of a stinky matter (however after several washes I think the team are starting to smell fresh again). It’s been good fun with a serious element and once figures are crunched we’ll reveal just how well they’ve done.

10/08/2026

Happy 70th Birthday by David Steel - a NatureScot blog repost

Saturday 8th August comments: The Isle of May is celebrating a huge milestone this summer, marking 70 years as a National Nature Reserve (NNR).

The island, known as the ‘Jewel of the Forth’, was designated in June 1956 to protect its special species and habitats. It’s hugely significant for its thousands of breeding seabirds in the summer and internationally important grey seal nurseries in the autumn. NatureScot have owned and managed the reserve since 1989.

The island is one of four strategic seabird research sites in the UK. Seabird research has taken place on the island since 1966 and seal research since 1982. As the data goes back several decades, it’s incredibly valuable for identifying trends. This long-term research helps us understand the effects of climate change on the diet and distribution of seabirds and seals. Other big changes over the decades has seen the rise in visitor numbers to around 17,000 a year now. The reserve team manages the impact of this by restricting visits to a certain length of time each day, for example. This helps to make sure the birds are not overly disturbed, while allowing people to experience and connect with nature.

David Steel, our Reserve Manager for the past 12 years said: “It’s so important that this special place is protected and managed for nature – not just for our generation but for future generations as well.”
Happy 70th birthday Isle of May NNR!

08/08/2026

Spuggy still here by David Steel - NatureScot blog repost

Thursday 6th August comments: Just a quick update to say that our special visitor, the American White-throated Sparrow is still here for its second day. The bird is favouring the dense bushes at the Low light and shows well on occasions. The bird is being well celebrated on and off the island and it’s great to see it relaced and enjoying life on the May!

06/08/2026

July aka Summah
and it definitely didn’t disappoint ☀️ the month has absolutely flown in we’ve been having that much fun!

Thank you to everyone who joined us!

There’s only just under two months left of the 2026 season, plenty of time to squeeze in a boat trip me thinks🤔

05/08/2026

Fancy a jaunt out to visit this guy? We’ve added another landing trip tomorrow sailing at 9am it’s under the ‘Isle of May Experience’ category on the booking system