Hi mchristine,
I'm more than happy to share the info and it's probably a good idea to do this online, as I got all the trip info directly off the internet from various websites shown below.
Basically, Isle of May is an island off Southeast Scotland, and the closest city is Edinburgh. There are 2 ways to get there from Edinburgh. The first way is to take a ferry named "May Princess" from Anstruther, which is a small town 2.5 hours from Edinburgh by bus. The second way is to take a train (0.5 hours) from Edinburgh to North Berwick, then departing by speedboat from "Scottish Seabird Centre". Their websites are as follows.
May Princess, Anstruther Pleasure Cruises, Anstruther:
http://www.isleofmayferry.com/april.asp
Scottish Seabird Centre, North Berwick:
http://www.seabird.org/how-to-get-here.asp
I chose the first way, so I had to travel from Edinburgh to Anstruther. There is a reliable public bus service run by Stagecoach that goes from Edinburgh Central Bus Station to Anstruther Harbour, where the "May Princess" ferry departs almost everyday for Isle of May between April and September, with timetable dependent on tide and weather as shown in the link above.
Bus X58/X60 runs from Monday to Saturday, while on Sundays one needs to take X58/X60 then transfer to bus "Fife 95" for Edinburgh to Anstruther, and vice versa on the way back. Their timetables are:
X58/X60:
http://www.stagecoachbus.com/Pdf ... 20X60%20Fife%20.pdf
Fife 95:
http://www.stagecoachbus.com/Pdf ... _3860_95%20Fife.pdf
If the weather is fine, one day on Puffin Island is enough for most bird species that breed there, namely
Puffin, Razorbill, Guillemot, Fulmar, Shag, Kittiwake, Arctic Tern, Eider, Oystercatcher, Rock Pipit, and more. Actually it's less than one day: the ferry trip takes 4.5 hours usually, with 2 hours spent on the island, which is already enough for photo-taking if the weather is fine.
Gannets do not breed at all on Isle of May, but they breed on Bass Rock nearby, thus they are easily seen from the shores of Anstruther. Just walk to the end of the long dams on either side of the pier where the "May Princess" departs - one can easily count over 1000 Gannets flying at sea on a good day, as they go from Bass Rock to their feeding grounds.
Other birds possible in mid-summer include Manx Shearwater, Sandwich Tern, Great Skua (rare), Red-throated Diver (rare). Note that Black Guillemot is absent, and Purple Sandpipers are not regularly found on the island from May to September. However, one can expect rare migrants during the migratory season i.e. late April/early May and September.
Next we come to accommodation. I google-mapped Anstruther hostels to look up all hostels close to the pier, and eventually stayed in the "Waterfront", which I found reasonably-priced - 40 GBP for double room (which I had to stay alone haha), very clean and comfy, with great food in the restaurant downstairs, and literally 3 minutes' walk to reach the pier, and another 5 minutes more to reach the tip of the long dam to sea-watch for Gannets. The website for Waterfront is:
Waterfront Hostel:
http://www.anstruther-waterfront.co.uk/
Scottish weather is notorious for being unpredictable and it can be 5 degrees with wind chill in mid-summer, as of 5 June 2011. The sun may shine, but don't go unprepared! Also, accommodation and ferry space needs to be booked at least 2 months in advance, especially for the hostels, because I found that I had only one choice left when I booked my hostel in mid-May.
Last but not least, one may ask how to choose between the two ways to get to Puffin Island. To cut a long story short, ferries from Anstruther is cheaper than speedboats from the Scottish Seabird Centre, and there's more choice of dates (Seabird Centre trips only run on Sat/Sun). So despite the fact that it takes 2.5-hour bus ride I went to Anstruther nonetheless.
Hope the info above answers most of your questions! If there's anything you need to clarify feel free to post here or PM. =)
Koel
