Guillemots
7 places to see and hear guillemots in the wild, in 6 countries from Norway to France: when each one peaks, where to go on your own, what it costs and what you will hear. Wild animals only, no zoos.
Best time, place by place
| Spectacle | Country | Peak | On your own? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hornøya and Gjesværstappan: Arctic seabird cliffs | Norway | 20 May – 15 Jul | Partly on your own |
| Svalbard: Arctic summer cliffs, walrus and terns | Norway | 20 Jun – 31 Jul | Partly on your own |
| Stora Karlsö: Baltic auk cliffs and the guillemot jump | Sweden | 20 May – 5 Jul | Guide, ranger or boat needed |
| Ertholmene: Denmark's only guillemot and razorbill colony | Denmark | 10 May – 30 Jun | Partly on your own |
| Irish seabird cities: Cliffs of Moher, Great Saltee and the Skelligs | Ireland | 10 May – 30 Jun | Partly on your own |
| Helgoland Lummenfelsen: guillemots, gannets and the 'Lummensprung' | Germany | 15 May – 28 Jun | You can go on your own |
| Sept-Îles: gannets on Rouzic, puffins and auks | France | 1 May – 15 Jul | Partly on your own |
Where to go, north to south
Hornøya and Gjesværstappan: Arctic seabird cliffsA guillemot wall at arm's length: massed growling and trumpeting, kittiwake screaming, puffin grunts, Brünnich's guillemots' lower calls; Arctic surf; at Gjesværstappan the gannet colony's grating and the constant wing-noise of puffins by the hundred thousand.
Svalbard: Arctic summer cliffs, walrus and ternsLittle auk colonies — a shrill, laughing chorus from scree slopes by the hundred thousand; Brünnich's guillemot walls (Alkefjellet) with birds pouring off 100 m dolerite cliffs; arctic terns in a screaming defensive cloud in Adventdalen; walrus grunts and snorts on a haul-out; calving glaciers.
Stora Karlsö: Baltic auk cliffs and the guillemot jumpThe growling, gurgling roar of a packed guillemot colony on limestone ledges, razorbill rasps, kittiwake-free Baltic quiet behind it; in late June the thin whistles of chicks calling to parents as they leap into the sea.
Ertholmene: Denmark's only guillemot and razorbill colonyGuillemots' growling and razorbills' rattle from Græsholm's rocks 100 m across the sound, eider crooning, gull colonies, the Baltic; at night on Christiansø, migrants and the fortress silence.
Irish seabird cities: Cliffs of Moher, Great Saltee and the SkelligsThe roar of 20,000 guillemots on the Moher ledges with kittiwakes screaming 'kitti-wake' and fulmars cackling; the Atlantic 200 m below; on Little Skellig the deafening, continuous growl of a gannet city heard over the engine; choughs' ringing calls on the cliff top.
Helgoland Lummenfelsen: guillemots, gannets and the 'Lummensprung'Germany's only seabird cliff: guillemot growls, kittiwake screaming, gannet colony grating, fulmar cackles; at the jump, chicks peeping and adults calling them down to the sea 40 m below.
Sept-Îles: gannets on Rouzic, puffins and auksFrance's only gannet colony (about 14,000 pairs on Rouzic) as a wall of grating calls from the boat, puffins and kittiwakes on the sea, and the Atlantic swell against the granite.