Take a Walk Along Troup with Janice

On a lovely spring afternoon with the temperature tipping 18⁰C, I decided to venture over to Troup Head to check on the seabirds. As usual, I parked at the viewpoint at Crovie, making the walk a little longer round to Troup Head than the main path from the designated car park at RSPB Troup Head at Northfield Farm.

With the seasons, the landscape changes. The gorse has yet to make its presence felt, instead the ground around is duller. Most of the fields are brown, ploughed awaiting seed, with the occasional one in grass for the grazing sheep. There’s still beauty to enjoy however, looking out at the harsh, rugged coastline When visibility is good you can easily see east towards Rosehearty, and west, far along the Moray Firth.

Walking from the RSPB car park you follow the fenced path over the cliff tops and round to the left taking in the spectacular views as you go. The sheer abruptness of the land ending and the North Sea beginning is breathtaking, and care should always be taken around the edges of these 100m vertical cliffs. Once over the series of steps, I am just about there.

As always, I hear the seabirds before I see them, first the airborne ones come into view and finally I can see the birds nestled on the rock faces. Already quite a few birds are present but nothing like the full numbers that usually appear by summer. I’m fully expecting far more birds on my next visit; Troup Head is named as the largest mainland breeding colony for gannets in Britain, yet it was only in 1988 that the first gannets were spotted here. Currently, most of the gannets seem to be solitary, waiting for a partner to return. Gannets are monogamous and despite the distances involved in their migration and the crowded nature of the nesting ground, somehow, they still manage to find the same mate year on year!

I mostly saw gannets on this visit and mainly adult birds. The adolescent gannets, identified by having a mixture of black and white plumage were not yet evident.

There were however a few kittiwakes peppered about the cliff face and further down nearer the water, a couple of guillemots. Like the gannets, I’d expect more to arrive shortly. Sadly on this visit I never saw any fulmars or puffins, yet both can be spotted at Troup Head, but that will probably mean another adventure by boat as breeding season progresses, so that I can view them on a different cliff face. I’m looking forward to it already – Troup Head in the swing of Spring is an amazing sight.