The use of webcams to monitor the prolonged autumn attendance of guillemots on the Isle of May in 2015

Although Guillemots at the southern edge of the range are known to return to the colonies in
autumn, usually only opportunistic observations of this behaviour are available. In the autumn of
2015 we took advantage of the live interactive cameras on the Isle of May, Fife to make systematic
checks of Guillemot colony attendance. Birds were recorded at dawn on 59 consecutive mornings
between 23 October and 20 December after which webcam images ceased due to lack of power on
the island. This prolonged period of attendance covered several periods of stormy weather and
appears unprecedented at this colony. Presumably local feeding conditions must have been
extremely favourable to enable the birds to spend so much time ashore.