We arrive on Mingulay and scramble up the cliffs passing a busy puffin colony on our way. One stops to greet us with its mouth stuffed full of its supper of choice the sandeel. Its bright beak - so colourful in the breeding season, has a unique hinging mechanism which allows it to hold several fish in its mouth at any one time. 

The Puffin is still a delicacy in places such as Iceland and the Faroe Islands as it once was in Scotland before protection laws came into place. The puffin and its eggs were a rich source of food for the people who lived on these remote Islands, and were caught by men abseiling the cliffs with horse hair ropes. They would lay puffin gins in which to snare the poor birds so they were ready to be collected when the men returned.