Where To See Puffins On Shetland

Shetland sits closer to Bergen in Norway than it does to Edinburgh. On a clear day from the cliffs of Hermaness, the most northerly point of the British Isles, you are looking across open ocean to the Arctic. There is very little between you and the pack ice. It is a long way to come for puffins, but it is absolutely worth it.

The puffins in Shetland are the same birds you will find on the Pembrokeshire islands or the Farne Islands, but something about the setting changes the experience. The light here in June is extraordinary. At midsummer, the sky barely darkens at night, and the low-angled evening sun on the cliffs and the sea turns everything to gold.

Shetland is not the easiest place to reach, and that is part of what makes a visit feel worthwhile. The puffins are here from late April through to August, with late May and June the prime months when the birds are most active, the chicks are being fed, and the chances of watching sand eel deliveries at close range are highest. This guide covers the three best puffin sites on the islands: Sumburgh Head, Hermaness, and Fair Isle, what each one is like, and how to make the most of a visit.

Why are the Shetland Islands good for seeing puffins?

Shetland has a lot of puffins. The archipelago supports tens of thousands of breeding pairs spread across dozens of colonies on the Mainland and outer islands, and the seas around it are rich enough in sand eels to sustain a seabird population of genuinely impressive scale. But it is not just the numbers that make Shetland worth the journey.

The three sites in this guide each offer something distinct. Sumburgh Head is the one that most visitors encounter first, and it earns its reputation immediately with puffins nesting in burrows on the clifftop grass right beside the lighthouse path, close enough to photograph with a standard lens and utterly unbothered by quiet observers. It is one of the best drive-up puffin experiences in Britain and is close to the airport.

Hermaness, at the far north of Unst, is different in every way. It is a long walk across open moorland to one of the most dramatic seabird cliff faces in the British Isles, with great skuas patrolling overhead and Muckle Flugga lighthouse visible offshore at the edge of Britain.

Fair Isle sits alone in the sea between Shetland and Orkney, famous the world over among birdwatchers for its migration records, and home to puffin colonies on the sea cliffs alongside an extraordinary community of resident wildlife.

What links all three is the sense that you are somewhere genuinely remote, not in the sense of being difficult or uncomfortable, but in the sense that the landscape has not been tidied up or organised for the convenience of visitors.

Sumburgh Head, South Mainland

Sumburgh Head is at the very southern tip of the Shetland Mainland, and it is the first thing many visitors see after landing at Sumburgh Airport. The lighthouse on the headland is visible from the runway, and the cliffs below it hold the largest and most accessible puffin colony in Shetland. It is also, in practical terms, one of the most extraordinary pieces of wildlife watching available anywhere in Britain for the effort involved.

The RSPB reserve at Sumburgh Head is built around the lighthouse complex, which dates from 1821 and was designed by Robert Stevenson, the grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson, and one of the most prolific lighthouse engineers in history.

The visitor centre inside the lighthouse buildings is well worth a visit with a good interpretation of the seabird colony, the lighthouse history, and the wider Shetland natural environment, as well as a good cafe.

Puffins here nest in burrows in the clifftop turf all along the path from the lighthouse to the headland viewpoint, and by late May the colony is fully active. You will see birds standing outside burrow entrances preening and pairs engaged in mutual billing behaviour.

If you arrive in June or July, you may see adults returning from the sea carrying beaks loaded with sand eels, heading purposefully for the burrow entrance before diving in and resurfacing a minute later, lighter and more alert.

The cliffs below the path hold guillemots, razorbills, shags, and fulmars on the lower ledges, and the sea below is worth watching. Gannets fish offshore regularly, and grey seals are almost always visible on the rocks at the base of the headland. On good days, both porpoises and orca have been recorded from this headland.

Sumburgh Head pairs naturally with a visit to Jarlshof, the extraordinary multi-period archaeological site a few minutes’ drive from the lighthouse. Jarlshof spans four thousand years of human occupation, and a half-day combining the two is one of the finest things you can do on a first visit to Shetland.

Hermaness National Nature Reserve, Unst

Getting to Hermaness requires some commitment. Unst is the most northerly inhabited island in the British Isles, and reaching it from Lerwick means driving to Toft on the Mainland, taking the ferry to Ulsta on Yell, driving across Yell to Gutcher, taking a second ferry to Belmont on Unst, and then driving the length of Unst to the car park at Burrafirth.

It sounds like a lot, and it is, but the two ferry crossings are short and beautiful, Yell has its own appeal (good for otters along the voes), and by the time you reach Unst, you are in a landscape that feels genuinely unlike anywhere else in Britain.

From the car park at Burrafirth, a path leads north across the moorland of Hermaness towards the cliffs. The walk takes about forty-five minutes each way across open ground, and for much of it you will be aware of great skuas known as bonxies, in Shetland dialect, patrolling overhead.

Bonxies are large, aggressive, and entirely unintimidated by humans. They breed on the moorland at Hermaness in large numbers and will make low passes over anyone who walks through their territory during the breeding season.

Then the cliffs open up. The west-facing face of Hermaness is one of the finest seabird cliff spectacles in Britain, with guillemots and razorbills packed onto the ledges in their thousands, gannets nesting on the lower stacks, fulmars gliding along the cliff face on stiff wings, and puffins on the clifftop turf right to the cliff edge.

The colony here is large, and the birds are approachable, and the backdrop with the Atlantic stretching away to the west, the Muckle Flugga lighthouse on its rock stack just offshore, the sea stack of Out Stack at the very tip of Britain visible beyond it, turns every image into something that could not have been taken anywhere else.

Muckle Flugga itself is worth a few minutes just to appreciate. The lighthouse was built in 1854 to guide ships through the Out Skerries passage, and it perches on a rock that looks as though it should not be capable of supporting anything.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s father, Thomas Stevenson, was one of the engineers who worked on it. The lighthouse is now automated, but on clear days, the white tower is clearly visible from the Hermaness clifftop, and the combination of lighthouse, sea stacks, and puffins is one of the most photographed compositions in Shetland.

The walk back from the cliffs is across the same moorland, and the bonxies will see you out. Allow a full day for Hermaness. The journey from Lerwick is around two to two and a half hours each way, including the ferries; the walk is ninety minutes return, and time at the cliffs passes faster than expected. If you are making a trip to Shetland specifically for wildlife, an overnight on Unst makes the whole day considerably more relaxed and gives you the option of an early morning at the cliffs. You really don’t want to miss the last ferry back to the mainland.

Fair Isle

Fair Isle is one of those places that exists as a kind of legend in the minds of British birdwatchers. The island sits roughly halfway between Shetland and Orkney in the open North Sea. It is small enough that you can walk its length in a couple of hours, remote enough that reaching it is an event in itself, and positioned in such a way that migrating birds in spring and autumn land on it in numbers and varieties that have made it the most famous migration watchpoint in Britain. The Bird Observatory here has been recording arrivals since 1948, and the list of rarities found on Fair Isle is extraordinary.

But Fair Isle is not only for the twitchers. The island has a permanent community of around fifty people, a working crofting tradition, and a wildlife character in spring and summer that makes it one of the most rewarding places in Britain to simply be.

The sea cliffs on the west and south coasts hold large breeding colonies of guillemots, razorbills, fulmars, and puffins. The puffins nest in the clifftop turf and rock crevices on the south-facing cliffs, and on a calm morning in June with the sea glittering below and no one else on the path, watching them go back and forth from the burrows is as peaceful and absorbing as wildlife watching gets.

Access to Fair Isle is by small aircraft from Tingwall Airport near Lerwick (a 25-minute flight), or by the Good Shepherd IV, the island’s ferry, which sails from Grutness pier near Sumburgh on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and alternating Saturdays.

The ferry crossing takes around two and a half hours and can be lively in rough weather as the route crosses open sea. It is worth it. The arrival at Fair Isle harbour, with the island rising above you and the cliffs already visible to the west, is a proper arrival.

Most visitors stay at the Fair Isle Bird Observatory, which has been rebuilt and reopened in recent years after a fire destroyed the original building. It offers comfortable accommodation and full board, with guided wildlife walks and access to the Observatory’s ringing and recording activities. Day visits are possible if you time the ferry carefully, but the crossing time means your time on the island is limited.

It is worth being honest: Fair Isle is a specialist destination. The journey is real, the accommodation options are limited, and the island does not have the infrastructure for casual tourism. But for anyone with a serious interest in wildlife, not just puffins, but seabirds, migrant birds, the community, and the landscape, it is one of the most extraordinary places in Britain to spend a few days.

Planning your Shetland puffin visit

Shetland needs at least four or five days if puffins are the priority and you want to cover more than one site. The distances within Shetland are not enormous. The Mainland is about 70 miles from north to south. The ferry crossings to Yell and Unst take time, and the drives through the islands are slow in the most enjoyable sense: there is too much to stop and look at.

Sumburgh and the south

Sumburgh Head should be your first stop if you are flying in, which most visitors are. The lighthouse is five minutes from the airport, and there is no reason not to go straight there from the terminal. A morning at Sumburgh, combining the RSPB reserve with a visit to Jarlshof, is one of the best ways to begin a Shetland trip. The puffins and the archaeology together give you an immediate sense of what makes Shetland different from everywhere else.

The South Mainland has other wildlife worth building time around. Loch of Spiggie is a good wading bird site in spring and autumn. Quendale Bay has good sea-watching potential. The coast road south from Lerwick to Sumburgh passes a succession of voes and bays that are worth slowing down for.

Unst and Hermaness

Hermaness needs a full day, and ideally a night on Unst before or after the walk. The two ferry crossings from the Mainland to Yell to Unst are not long. Each takes about ten minutes, but they add up, and the drive across Yell is worth doing slowly enough to stop and look for otters along the shoreline. If you are making the effort to get to Hermaness, an overnight in one of Unst’s small B&Bs or self-catering properties means you can be at the cliff path early in the morning, which is when the light is best, and the bonxies are at their most active.

Unst has other things to offer beyond Hermaness. Muness Castle, the most northerly castle in Britain, is a short detour. The Unst Bus Shelter, famously decorated by local residents and reputed to be the most luxuriously furnished bus shelter in Britain, is exactly as it sounds.

Fair Isle

Fair Isle is its own trip. The logistics of getting there, whether by plane or ferry, mean that it is not easily combined with a mainland Shetland itinerary on the same day. The best approach is to build it into a Shetland trip as a two or three-night stay at the Observatory, giving yourself time to explore the island at the pace it deserves. Book the Observatory well ahead, as it is popular throughout the season and particularly in May and June.

If a full Fair Isle stay is not possible on this trip, Sumburgh Head and Hermaness together make a very satisfying Shetland puffin itinerary, and the Island will still be there next time.

Photographing puffins in Shetland

Shetland’s puffin sites each offer something photographically distinct, and the quality of the light here, particularly in June when the sun barely sets, gives images a warmth and clarity that is genuinely different from photographs taken at more southerly sites.

Sumburgh Head is the most straightforward site for puffin photography on the islands. The birds are very close to the path, the clifftop habitat gives clean backgrounds of sea and sky, and the lighthouse adds a compositional element that is unique to this location.

A 100–300mm lens covers most of the useful range here, as the birds are close enough that longer lenses are sometimes too much. Early morning and evening light are both outstanding; in June, the low angle of the sun in the late evening, after nine or ten o’clock, gives a warmth to the red and orange bill colours that midday light never matches.

Hermaness is the location for dramatic landscape and wildlife images rather than pure puffin portraits, though the puffins at the cliff edge are very approachable. The Muckle Flugga backdrop makes for compositions that are impossible to achieve anywhere else in Britain. A 70–200mm lens gives you the flexibility to work both wide for the lighthouse context and tighter for the birds. The bonxies overhead are worth photographing in their own right.

Fair Isle rewards patient, intimate photography. The island’s small scale means you can spend a long time at the cliff sites without feeling rushed, and the quality of light on the south-facing cliffs in the morning is consistently good. The resident warden at the Observatory can advise on the best spots and timing for each site on the island.

Getting to Shetland and getting around

Reaching the islands

Shetland is served by flights from Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness, Glasgow, and Bergen with Loganair. The journey from Edinburgh takes about an hour and a quarter. Loganair also runs inter-island flights within Shetland, including the service to Fair Isle from Tingwall.

For those with time and a preference for sea travel, Northlink Ferries runs overnight sailings from Aberdeen to Lerwick. It is a comfortable twelve-hour crossing that arrives in Lerwick harbour in the morning. The overnight ferry is a genuinely enjoyable way to travel if you are bringing a car, and the arrival into Lerwick in the early morning, with the town rising above the harbour and the voes of the Mainland visible to the north, sets up the trip well.

Getting around

A car is essential for exploring Shetland beyond Lerwick. The main A970 road runs the length of the Mainland and is well surfaced; the side roads are mostly single track with passing places and require patience rather than skill. Car hire is available at Sumburgh Airport and in Lerwick.

For the outer islands, Shetland Islands Council operates the inter-island ferry services from Toft to Ulsta (Yell), Gutcher to Belmont (Unst), and several other routes. These are frequent, inexpensive, and essential for reaching Hermaness.

The timetable is available on the Shetland Islands Council website, and it is worth downloading before you travel. Ferries do not generally need to be booked for foot passengers, but if you are taking a car to Unst in peak summer, you may want to book the crossings.

For Fair Isle specifically, Loganair flights from Tingwall are the fastest option and can be booked in advance; the Good Shepherd IV ferry from Grutness runs to a set timetable and does not require booking for foot passengers, though the Observatory can advise on timing when you arrange your stay.

More puffin watching in Scotland and beyond

Shetland is the furthest north you can go for puffins in the British Isles, but the archipelago sits within a broader Scottish picture that offers a lot more to explore.

Orkney, fifty miles to the south, has its own distinct puffin watching at Castle o’Burrian on Westray holds the largest colony in the islands, and the combination of Orkney’s archaeology, history, and wildlife makes it as compelling a destination as Shetland, if very different in character. The two islands are complementary rather than alternatives, and a trip covering both is entirely achievable.

Further south, the Scottish islands offer different experiences again. Staffa and the Treshnish Isles in the Inner Hebrides, the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth, and Handa off the Sutherland coast all have their own puffin colonies in dramatic settings. And for the largest and most accessible colony in southern Britain, Skomer Island in Pembrokeshire remains the place that most puffin watchers visit at some point.