About the reserve

During the summer, thousands of seabirds nest on the Isle of Muck such as fulmar, shag, razorbill, guillemot, black guillemot, and kittiwake.

Although puffins do not currently breed here, they can sometimes be seen in small numbers during the breeding season in the waters surrounding the island. Peregrine falcon and common buzzard can also be spotted hunting over the island. 

A large variety of other birds pass through, feeding on the productive waters around the island, including gannet, Manx shearwater, tern, divers and passage migrants such as skuas.

Most of the breeding birds nest on the seaward side of the island, so are difficult to observe from the shore. However, with a bit of patience and luck, you should be able to see all of the birds that nest here as they fly to and from the colony.

The waters offshore are also one of the best places in Northern Ireland to spot harbour porpoise and other cetaceans. Common and grey seal are also regularly sighted.

At very low tides, the island is connected to the shore by a tombolo (a stone spit) – but it is very unsafe to walk across.

To ensure the breeding seabirds don’t suffer excessive disturbance, there is no public access to the island.

As well as monitoring the populations of breeding seabirds on an annual basis, we also manage the grassland to encourage seabird nesting and control invasive plants such as bracken.