Nollaig Chridheil a h-uile duine! Happy Christmas everyone and we'll see you in the new year. 'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse...' This St Kilda mouse didn't get the Christmas memo and is enjoying a midnight snack 📷MC2

Two more sleeps, better make sure your chimney is swept for an important visitor #Stkilda, #NTS, #advent

Advent window 22, a picture from the Trust's archives. The summer months were busy harvesting seabirds and storing them for the winter months #StKilda, #NTS, #advent

Its winter solstice in the northern hemisphere. Today St Kilda will see about six and a half hours of daylight, but tomorrow the days start to get longer. Still plenty winter evenings to coorie in next to the fire. #StKilda #NTS #advent 📷MC2

Cleits are a unique style of building to St Kilda, small stone built turf capped 'sheds'. Great for hiding those Christmas presents in #advent, #NTS, #StKilda

All is calm, all is bright . This lovely image of Village Bay was taken on a calm summers day #NTS, #StKilda, #advent

Well hello there, welcome to advent window 18. Soay lambs are born in late April and are curious to explore their surroundings #StKilda,#advent, #NTS

Advent window 17. The St Kilda wren -Troglodytes troglodytes hirtensis - a unique sub species on the St Kilda archipelago . In the spring and summer the males can be heard singing all over the islands, defending their territories and making their presence felt.

Keeping an eye out for Santa, he won't come if you're awake! St Kilda has the largest puffin colony in the UK, they love to eat sand eels and other small fish #StKilda, #NTS, #advent

Make sure you post your cards in time for them to arrive before Christmas. The St Kilda post office was busy in the summer months with tourists sending postcards

St kilda offers a welcome rest spot for many migrating birds, including these geese. #NTS, #StKilda, #advent

A fulmar takes flight. St Kilda has the oldest and one of hte largest fulmar colonies in the UK #StKilda#advent#NTS

Todays advent - a mini lesson on Gaelic and Scots! Rain swells the Abhainn Mhor (Big River) on a dreich (gloomy) day . #StKilda#NTS#advent

What's behind advent door 11? This moody shot was taken from Boreray , looking back to Hirta and Soay #advent #NTS #StKilda 📷Rowan Aitchison

In the summer thousands of puffins arrive on St Kilda to raise their young, digging burrows or finding handy hidey-holes for their nests. They are all now out in the Atlantic till the Spring #advent, #NTS

Low winter sunshine strikes Village Bay #advent #NTS #StKilda

On the eighth day of Christmas.... 8 maids a milking. Both sheep and cows were kept for their milk and 19th century travellers commented on the fine cheeses

In summer the slopes of St Kilda turn pink with campion and thrift

St Kilda is home to the largest colony of northern gannets in the world.

This eider duck made her nest inside one of the many cleits

Soay sheep enjoy the rich grass of a St Kilda summer

Low cloud makes the landscape magical but can also obscure the cliff edges

What's behind today's advent window? A lovely view of the Bay from behind the village

It's that time of year again! Welcome to St Kilda World Heritage Site advent calendar. We'll share an image of this amazing site every day until Christmas.

Whilst giving a talk about #stkilda to the local #WI group in north Wales, Janet Crummy produced a mailboat that she’d found on Lewis when she was living there in 1975! 10 were sent by the Ranger Hugh Brown, 2 were found on Lewis and 4 found in Norway. @n-t-s.bsky.social #stkildaclub

Great to see our #NTSSeabirds and marine life well represented at #EdinburghZoo 's #GiantLanterns exhibition last night 🙂 Thanks to #StKildaClub for the invitation to speak at their annual reunion. @n-t-s.bsky.social @edinburghzoo.bsky.social

Delighted to receive this late season record of a 1cy Ring-necked Duck on #StKilda yesterday from @soaysheep.bsky.social researcher Xavier Bal. A 2nd island record after the first in 2000! Thanks for this fab 📷 @barnardlucy.bsky.social 🙂 @birdguides.bsky.social @hebridesbirds.bsky.social

#landscape, #31daysofgraves. The small graveyard on the remote St Kilda archipelago now only echoes to the sounds of birds and bleats of sheep

We miss these views over winter! That's the last of the @n-t-s.bsky.social #StKilda team off the island now, after a fabulous last couple of days birding to cap off an excellent autumn and an excellent season. Thanks to all that enjoyed it with us and helped make 2025 a special year! 🙏

A cruise ship made the most of this fine calm autumn weather to make a late season visit to #StKilda yesterday. Grateful to them for their understanding as I was running around in search of that wagtail 😅 🙏

Two firsts for #StKilda in one day is pretty special for a last day on island! A Cattle Egret flew over as the wagtail was being searched for, landed briefly, then appeared to head straight back out of Village Bay! @hebridesbirds.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social

Eastern Yellow Wagtail on St Kilda today! Sound recording on a phone isn't easy, but the bird had a short raspy call, not dissimilar to a Citrine Wag. @hebridesbirds.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social

The rarest bird of the day was this Curlew Sandpiper. There have been lots in the country this year, but this is just the 3rd #StKilda record, and the first since 1993! Frustratingly flighty with its Ringed Plover companions... @hebridesbirds.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social

7 species added to the #StKilda yearlist today, including a least 90 Fieldfare, 1 Song and 2 Mistle Thrush, Water Rail, Reed Warbler and Grey Wagtail. @hebridesbirds.bsky.social

A fantastic day's #birding today on #StKilda, one of the highlights being a significant arrival of Jack Snipe- 21 counted, but could've been more. They were popping up everywhere! @hebridesbirds.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social

A flurry of 'common' migrants today, including a Robin (first since early April), 4 Blackcap, 3 Chiffchaff (first of the autumn!) as well as a Chaffinch yesterday (new for year). Our Tree Pipit is still showing very well, and the Starlings are looking splendid! @hebridesbirds.bsky.social

Our two most common buntings were on Hirta yesterday, with a single Lapland on the hill and a flock of 9 Snow down in the village. @hebridesbirds.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social

A 1st winter Iceland Gull was in among the seals on the rocks at Dùn today. Always nice to see those white wings 🙂 @hebridesbirds.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social

Presumably the same Corncrake that we found a few days ago is still scurrying around near the cemetery on #StKilda. @birdguides.bsky.social @hebridesbirds.bsky.social

The first pulse of Redwing are back on #StKilda, with 50+ flitting between cottages, cleitean and dykes over the last few days.

Delighted that our visiting European White-fronted Goose from Netherlands has found some Pink-footed friends to graze with in the Village over the last couple of days.

Our second Pectoral Sandpiper of season was much more obliging than the first, even coming to the helipad to say farewell to Will after another great autumn with him here! @birdguides.bsky.social @hebridesbirds.bsky.social

This collar-ringed European White-fronted Goose (T7Z) was ringed in Netherlands in Nov 2024 and had previously been reported at 2 other sites in Netherlands before turning up on #SKilda today. Reported to cr-birding.org. Incredible what we can learn about birds' movements from ringing projects!

This makes you wonder how many times we actually miss Short-eared Owls on the scree slope on Conachair. There were two tucked away in there today. @hebridesbirds.bsky.social

This morning's Corncrake was eclipsed by the Brown Shrike today, but they're always a smart bird to see out here. Pretty good start to October! @birdguides.bsky.social @hebridesbirds.bsky.social

Brown Shrike today! 1st for #StKilda and only the 4th for the Outer Hebs! Flighty and elusive, but combination of features confirmed ID, including uniform dark brown head and mantle, very dark mask, short wings, and very long, slim, reddish tail. @birdguides.bsky.social @hebridesbirds.bsky.social

There's always a chance that a flock of Pink-footed Geese might pick up a straggler of another species. This Greenland White-fronted Goose was with a small flock in Gleann Mor a couple of days ago. @scottishbirding.bsky.social @hebridesbirds.bsky.social

It's not often that you sit down for a cuppa on #StKilda and a Turtle Dove lands in front of a rainy window! Disappeared on us as soon as we got to the door too. A second record of the year for this irregular visitor, after a single spring record. @birdguides.bsky.social @hebridesbirds.bsky.social

Tree Pipits are occasional visitors to #StKilda, but picking one out in among the hundreds of breeding and migrant Meadow Pipits can be challenging! Fortunately this one has given us some fantastic views over the last couple of days. @scottishbirding.bsky.social @hebridesbirds.bsky.social

Just the one Baird's Sandpiper today on #StKilda, but the first Pectoral Sandpiper (second pic) of the year was also up on the hills this evening. Usually the much more expected of these two Nearctic waders. @birdguides.bsky.social @hebridesbirds.bsky.social