Early puffin sightings on the Faroe Islands

We swung though Torshavn this morning, the capital of the Faroes. With a population of just a tick over 13 000 it's a sizeable town with a nice old centre. The Tinganes area is definitely worth a visit. The Viking parliament first met here in about 825 which makes it one of the oldest parliamentary meeting places in the world. The government still operates out of Tinganes, which gives it even more credibility, or maybe less, depending upon what you think of government! Some of the buildings in the area date back to the 16th century and are occupied by residents, so it's much more than a museum and a seat of parliament. Right next to Tinganes you'll come across the Reyn and Undir Ryggi, neighbourhoods which contain dwellings that date back to the 14th century. There's a handful of black tarred houses in this area with white-framed windows and grass roofs. You can't and shouldn't miss them!

Now it's at this point that I get to say something perhaps a little contentious. If the Faroe Islands tourist committee, which talks up Toshavn as a go to destination, read this they'll probably run me out of town, not that it will matter as I'm flying to Paris tomorrow. Anyway, here goes, there's really not too much more to do in Torshavn. In fact it reminded me a lot of Lerwick on the Shetland Islands. Lerwick has some lovely old buildings down near the waterfront, including one that has found fame through the TV series Shetland, a program which holds no interest to me. 30 minutes max in Lerwick and I found myself looking for something more exciting. Maybe if you're a fan of Shetland it might command 45 minutes. Lots of people seem to gather outside Jimmy's home on the waterfront to get the ubiquitous. 'I've been here photo.' I always get the feeling in places like Lerwick and Torshavn that aesthetics arrived really early, but left not long after. Anyway I've put in a few more pics to give you some idea of the vibe in the old town centre.

After Torshavn it was time to get back on the road and make the most of the natural beauty of the Faroe Islands. I've already told you more than you need to know about Gasadalur in a previous blog. If you go back a couple of days you'll find out all about its history and the stunning waterfall. This evening our mission was finding puffins. When we visited earlier in the week it was a bit early in the day, so we made a point of making a later arrival today. The island of Mykines, which you can easily see from Gasadalur, is famous for attracting early season puffins on the Faroes. However we had done some research that told us that the nesting grounds on Mykines can be a little bit like peak hour on the London Tube, so the smart puffins head for the cliffs at Gasadalur. We arrived a bit after 630 and sure enough they were starting to come back from a busy day at sea. The cliffs are bathed in full sun, so the puffins were landing on the cliffs and immediately drying their wings. Watching puffins land is not for the faint hearted. Puffins seem to have trouble coordinating their landing gear with the loss of velocity and they often stumble on the runway. Given that they are predominantly sea birds and land is not their natural environment this shortcoming is probably not all that surprising.
There's lots of good information on the internet about their origins and breeding habits. Here's a couple of good pieces from the Guardian to get you started
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2022/sep/26/puffins-around-the-british-isles-in-pictures
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jun/20/a-world-without-puffins-the-uncertain-fate-of-the-much-loved-seabirds
Puffins face lots of natural hazards in their environment, but needless to say, their biggest enemy is humans. There's not only issues from degradation of their environment, but also the fact that humans still eat their flesh. Their meat is considered a delicacy in both Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Believe it or not, in Iceland, eating raw puffin heart is a special treat. Anyway here's some pics to show them in their natural environment. I've also thrown in a pic of a couple of really nice sheep who were enjoying life as amicable next door neighbours with the puffins