St Kilda was one of the destinations on this years one week cruise, St Kilda is a unique ecosystem consisting of the islands of Hirta, Dun, Levenish, Soay and Boreray with Stac an Armin and stac Lee these sea stacks supporting around 60 + thousand pairs of gannets. St Kilda hosts the oldest and largest colony of Fulmars 68,000 pairs. Also 140,000 pairs of Puffins nest on the islands, mainly Dun. This makes St Kilda the most important seabird breeding station in north-west Europe. Other unique species like Leach'e petrel nest here in small numbers. The huge numbers of seabirds found on St Kilda were vital to the survival of the islanders at the time, eggs provided fresh food in the summer, with Gannets and Fulmars being harvested each season. Feathers and oil were kept to export and helped to pay the islanders rent.
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