0:00:05 > 0:00:08For centuries travellers have found a safe haven
0:00:08 > 0:00:11and sanctuary among the islands of the Hebrides.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17This landscape of sheltered bays, sweeping horizons
0:00:17 > 0:00:21and distant headlands has drawn a host of visitors -
0:00:21 > 0:00:25all looking to escape the turmoil of the modern world.
0:00:34 > 0:00:39One of the great attractions of the Western Isles is its wildlife
0:00:39 > 0:00:42and these islands are home to some of the great
0:00:42 > 0:00:45spectacles of the natural world.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47To experience it for myself,
0:00:47 > 0:00:49I'm heading to the Treshnish Islands,
0:00:49 > 0:00:53which lie in a chain about three miles west of Mull.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00To get there I'm joining Ian Morrison, who regularly makes
0:01:00 > 0:01:04the crossing with visitors who are all hoping to meet
0:01:04 > 0:01:07the island's rather special inhabitants.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10Ian, what's the island right on the bow here?
0:01:10 > 0:01:12That's Lunga - this is the one we're headed for now.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15This is where we go every day.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18Does anyone live on Lunga? No, just puffins and guillemots
0:01:18 > 0:01:21and razorbills and kittiwakes and fulmars
0:01:21 > 0:01:24and shags and a whole lot of other birds.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27So it's a seabird city? Absolutely.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32For those uninitiated in the ways of the wild,
0:01:32 > 0:01:36getting ashore on Lunga can be something of an ordeal.
0:01:36 > 0:01:41And once safely on land, you're here to stay,
0:01:41 > 0:01:43at least until the boat returns with the jetty.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49And then what? There's nothing much here except the puffins, of course.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51And there are plenty of them
0:01:51 > 0:01:53to entertain even the most cynical of city dwellers.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57Ian, why do people come out here to Lunga?
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Well, you can see them all arrayed on the edge of the cliff there.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04These are the boys - these puffins. That's the whole reason.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06They do come out for all the other birdlife as well.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09There's thousands of guillemots and lots of other seabirds.
0:02:09 > 0:02:10That's the main reason.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14What would you say is a great allure of puffins over other seabirds?
0:02:14 > 0:02:18They are very, very attractive and very comical.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21Some places they call them sea parrots...
0:02:21 > 0:02:27Various other names that they've got that indicate a comical creature.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30And the way they get about, they huff around.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32Do you think we identify with them in some way?
0:02:32 > 0:02:35Aye, probably. I think we're probably quite like them really.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37I believe that's why they're studying us, you know?
0:02:37 > 0:02:39I tell the people that they're doing an ongoing study
0:02:39 > 0:02:41of Homo sapiens and they...
0:02:41 > 0:02:43The people should be on their best behaviour.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49Ian describes these encounters as puffin therapy -
0:02:49 > 0:02:53a way of decluttering the urban mind and getting close to nature.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57People feel, or seem to be, a lot happier
0:02:57 > 0:03:00when they come off the island after two hours communing with these
0:03:00 > 0:03:02creatures than they are when they arrive.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08I love them more than any other little bird on this whole planet.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11I just adore them.
0:03:11 > 0:03:12They don't seem bothered when we're
0:03:12 > 0:03:15inches away from them. They seem quite happy.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18There seems some kind of mutual respect between humans and animals.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21It's brilliant. I've never seen it anywhere else.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Last year we missed out on this tour, we couldn't get on it.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28So we came back really this year just to come and see the puffins,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31and it's been incredible.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34I think that's what I love about them - the humour of the birds.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37There are very funny. I just wish I could talk their language!
0:03:41 > 0:03:44Having soaked up some soothing puffins vibes, I'm heading
0:03:44 > 0:03:48back to the east coast and the islands of the Firth of Forth.
0:03:51 > 0:03:57Here the infamous Bass Rock is home to another impressive seabird city.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01And in this light it almost looks as if there's been
0:04:01 > 0:04:03a fresh fall of snow on the summit.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07But this is July and not even Scotland can be that cold.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13When you get a little closer, you realise that what
0:04:13 > 0:04:17you're actually seeing are thousands upon thousands of gannets...
0:04:18 > 0:04:21..and several tonnes of their droppings.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27Faced with the daunting prospect of attempting to land on this
0:04:27 > 0:04:30seabird stronghold, I've enlisted the help
0:04:30 > 0:04:33of tour guide Maggie Shedden.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37Now, Maggie, we're some distance from the Bass.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39I cannot not only see the gannets up there, but I can hear them.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42That's an incredible noise. There must be thousands of them there.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44It's incredible, isn't it?
0:04:44 > 0:04:48I mean, it's the largest single rock colony for gannets in the world.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52I would say we're looking at just under 160,000 birds
0:04:52 > 0:04:55if you include the chicks and the non-breeders.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57I think what makes it so special is
0:04:57 > 0:05:00we're just half an hour from the city -
0:05:00 > 0:05:01we're not wild and remote.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05So, to have this on the doorstep of a city, you're incredibly lucky.
0:05:05 > 0:05:10But being so close to the mainland meant the gannets were easy prey.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14At first, they were prized for their feathers, oil and flesh.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18But, in the Victorian age, they were hunted just for sport.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21Various shooting parties used to come out,
0:05:21 > 0:05:23they would sit off the Bass,
0:05:23 > 0:05:25blast the gannets out of the sky with guns and whatnot.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27I mean, how difficult is it to hit a gannet?
0:05:27 > 0:05:30You know, you would sit in a boat, just fire your gun.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32You know, they are huge birds,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35wingspan of just under six feet. And it was just so easy.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38Such an easy target. That's not sustainable, is it? No.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40By the time the 20th century came,
0:05:40 > 0:05:44there was probably only about 3,000 gannets left here. Really?
0:05:44 > 0:05:46The colony dropped quite dramatically.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48So, it's come back from the brink, really. It has.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55Hunting these birds was banned and numbers gradually recovered.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00Visiting this bird sanctuary is by special permission only.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02And if that doesn't deter visitors,
0:06:02 > 0:06:07what might is the noise and, I have to say, the smell.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10At Bass Rock, you have to take a really nice deep breath,
0:06:10 > 0:06:12as you approach the rock.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16It really has a very unique aroma to it. Eau de Bass. That's it.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20The Bass Rock has always intrigued me.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24Robert Louis Stevenson, whose cousins built the lighthouse here,
0:06:24 > 0:06:28featured it prominently in his novel Catriona.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32"With the growing of the dawn, I could see it clearer and clearer.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35"The sloping top of it, green with grass,
0:06:35 > 0:06:39"the clan of white geese that cried about the sides,
0:06:39 > 0:06:41"and the black, broken buildings."
0:06:42 > 0:06:45It's easy to see how he drew inspiration
0:06:45 > 0:06:47from the rock's dark history.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52Maggie, what's this wall I can see to the left here?
0:06:52 > 0:06:55It looks almost like an old castle.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58Well, this is really the curtain wall to fortify this island.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00So, the island was a fortress at one time?
0:07:00 > 0:07:03It was a fortress and a prison. A prison!
0:07:03 > 0:07:05A prison for the Covenanters, a well known group of men
0:07:05 > 0:07:08who disagreed with the king of the time over religion.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10So, actually, many of them were ministers
0:07:10 > 0:07:12and preachers that were sent here.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14So, they were incarcerated out here with not much
0:07:14 > 0:07:17prospect of getting back off? It was a dreadful place to be sent.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20I mean, it is called the Alcatraz Of The North sometimes.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24Once you get behind this prison gate here, there is no escape.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26The island is sheer all the way around,
0:07:26 > 0:07:29and you've got to remember, on this rock, they had food.
0:07:29 > 0:07:30The guards had food.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33It was rich, there was a well,
0:07:33 > 0:07:35but the prisoners got none of this.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38They drank out of puddles, and that was just putrid.
0:07:38 > 0:07:39Total deprivation, really.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41Absolutely, and at the same time,
0:07:41 > 0:07:45they would witness friends and colleagues being hung across here
0:07:45 > 0:07:47near to Tantallon Castle.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51So, I'm sure many a person walked this path with reluctance.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54Chilling place. Welcome to the prison.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58One 17th-century prisoner described the hellish conditions
0:07:58 > 0:08:00they were forced to endure.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03"We are shut up, not permitted to converse,
0:08:03 > 0:08:05"envying the birds their freedom.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07"Shut up, day and night,
0:08:07 > 0:08:12"to hear only the sighs and groans of our fellow prisoners."
0:08:12 > 0:08:16Escape from here was thought to be impossible.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20But, in 1691, four Jacobite prisoners
0:08:20 > 0:08:22staged an audacious break-out
0:08:22 > 0:08:27which would eventually bring these walls tumbling down.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30The guards came down to collect coal at the landing site,
0:08:30 > 0:08:33and they left just one guard in charge.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35They overpowered the guard, they closed the prison gate,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38and they held the Bass Rock for almost three years.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42They held it for three years?! The authorities were mortified.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45They tried everything in their power to take the rock back.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47They bombarded it, they tried to starve them out.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49They stopped shipping coming in.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53But, under the cover of darkness, anything can happen here. And did.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56The French had been very sympathetic to the Jacobites
0:08:56 > 0:09:00and they landed them some basic supplies. Cheese and wine?
0:09:00 > 0:09:02Cheese and wine, yes! That's basic supplies in my world!
0:09:02 > 0:09:04That's the French mood. Absolutely.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06And, after three years,
0:09:06 > 0:09:09when the authorities said, "We have to discuss terms,"
0:09:09 > 0:09:11they were invited out here, and when they came out,
0:09:11 > 0:09:13they were treated to this wonderful banquet
0:09:13 > 0:09:16of solan goose, the gannet, fine French wines and cheeses.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19This was food for a king. This was like a banquet.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23Well, the authorities thought they were living like this every day,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26when, in fact, they were starving. But it worked. The ploy worked.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29They were given... Immediately given an honourable discharge
0:09:29 > 0:09:31and the rock was very quickly defortified.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33It just goes to show that cheese and wine
0:09:33 > 0:09:35can be an effective weapon. Absolutely!
0:09:35 > 0:09:38Let's go and have a look at the rest of the island. Yes.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45It's ironic to think that to escape from here,
0:09:45 > 0:09:49those captives had to turn their prison into a fortress again.
0:09:51 > 0:09:56And I suppose that today this island still provides a safe haven
0:09:56 > 0:09:59for this protected species.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04The gannets defend the Bass Rock well.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07The noise and the smell are overpowering,
0:10:07 > 0:10:11yet this sea-bird city is close to the human world.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13Edinburgh is just over there.
0:10:13 > 0:10:19A short gannet-glide from this island fortress in the Forth.