The Isle of May Bird Observatory

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The Isle of May Bird Observatory & Field Station Trust

Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation - Scottish Charity Number SC001783

Visit

Monitor the island's birds... stay for a week? Just a day trip?

If you would like to visit check out the HOW TO VISIT page

Bird News

for bird news click here

want more island news? check out

The Isle of May NNR Wardens blog here

Trust Membership

become a trust member and support our work - click here to find out more

IOM Bird Obs Annual Report
The 2011 report is now available - complete with CD - Trust members receive it automatically while copies are available for non members at £8.50 (including p&p) from :
S. Rivers, Flat 8 (2F2), 10 Waverley Pk, Edinburgh EH8 8EU or by e-mail

The Isle of May Bird Observatory is Scotland’s oldest bird observatory, founded in 1934 The observatory is administered by a charitable trust (The Isle of May Bird Observatory and Field Station Trust) and manned by volunteer observers between March and November. The Observatory was founded by a group of young Scottish ornithologists and has continued to depend on the enthusiasm of amateurs who come to the island, usually for a week at a time, to maintain observations. The living accomodation is housed within the Low Light (pic on left), a former navigational lighthouse

The Island lies 5 miles off the Fife coast in eastern Scotland. It is a National Nature Reserve owned and managed by Scottish Natural Heritage and is internationally important for its populations of breeding seabirds particularly Puffins Fratercula arctica and is well placed to monitor migration of passerines and other birds in spring and autumn, often attracting large numbers of passerines in the right conditions.

The island is a major landmark from many coastal locations in eastern Scotland sitting low in the water at the mouth of the Firth of Forth. It is best seen from the Fife coast where it dominates the seascapes from the fishing villages of the East Neuk; Crail, Anstruther and Pittenweem

Explore this website further to learn more about the observatory, the island and its birds

Isle of May

IOMBO at the Scottish Bird Fair

Come and see us at the Scottish Bird Fair on the Moorland stand

Development Appeal

The Trust is appealing for donations to help with upgrade the facilities at the observatory. Improving the facilities at the observatory will enable better occupancy to improve coverage of bird migration monitoring at key times as well as contributing to research & monitoring of the important breeding seabirds including the Puffins. The building work is now well underway and the latest photos can be seen on the News pages and on our Facebook page.

Please contribute what you can and help us make the observatory fit for the future!

DONATE BY POST: A cheque (payable to Isle of May Bird Observatory Development Appeal) can be sent direct to:

Niall Campbell, Hon. Treasurer, Isle of May Bird Observatory Trust, 15 Warriston Crescent, Edinburgh EH3 5LA

or download a donation form which contains more information about the plans for the development and a "gift aid" declaration (enabling the observatory to increase the value of your donation if you are a UK taxpayer, at no additional cost to you) You can download the donation form in the attachments section at the bottom of this page

Limited edition prints by Keith Brockie and Derek Robertson are also available and all proceeds contribute to the appeal - order form below

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