The end of May marked my first full year of bird photography, and I spent it on the Isle of May, Scotland, photographing all the seabirds I had always dreamt of seeing one day.

This is the story of my first-ever encounter with puffins on the Isle of May, Scotland. As such, it’s also the story of how stereotypes don’t work, not even when they’re about puffins.

Birding is special, pervasive, transformative. It’s not just about spotting birds and photographing them. It takes over everything you see or do, it changes the way you look at all things around you.

Birds: this is pretty much what this summer has been all about. I’ve been photographing birds all summer, so birds are also what I mostly get to write about.