Why hunt fowl?

As part of the Between Islands project, Shetland’s new online exhibition, ‘Fair Game’ examines three customs that are now sometimes viewed rather emotively – fowling, whaling and peat cutting. Here, curator Ian Tait takes a closer look at the practice of hunting seabirds and eggs, and how historically North Atlantic islanders relied on seafowl for food and many other practical uses.

North Atlantic islanders relied on seafowl for food over millennia, broadening their diet by extending limited resources. Birds were roasted when fresh, and salted ones were boiled throughout the year. Feathers had many uses; soft ones for bedding, quills in toys, bright ones for fishing lures. St Kilda’s folk depended on birds like folk elsewhere used fish and seals: islanders made bait from puffins, lamp oil from fulmars, shoes from gannets.

The inhabitants of St Kilda, in the Hebrides, depended on birds more than any other society in Europe. They had to descend the island's terrifying cliffs, their life depending on a rope and their bare feet, to net fulmars and to snare gannets. Birds sustained people for thousands of year - providing food, bedding, thread, footwear, medicine.

Northern and Western islanders caught birds using similar methods – snares, nets, and ropes. For cliff-laying birds, operations were dangerous, and men on the clifftop lowered someone over the precipice on a rope. Cliff fowlers carried a basket for eggs, and birds were tied around the man’s waist. George Low described operations in Foula in 1774: “They never trust much to the rope nor stake. Once they have got footing, they depend more on their own climbing than any rope… Few who make this practice for life die a natural death.” People only targeted particular species, because it was vital to not overexploit resources that humans partly depended on for survival.

People in all the Atlantic islands depended on seabirds for food for centuries. Diverse habitats meant many species were caught: some could be netted on the wing, like auks, guillemots, and puffins. The device used by these Orcadians was identical the one used in Shetland and Faroe.

Gathering birds and their eggs was a seasonal part of every Shetland family's life since ancient times. Depending on local geography, people went off to holms by boat, or went down cliffs by rope. The fowler carried a basket for eggs, and often a pole with a hook to manoeuvre towards a nest.

However, from the 19th century, visitors collected scarcer species for stuffing, and islanders were happy to sell specimens. These depredations affected the rarer species not required for subsistence needs. Eventually, legislation protecting birds was introduced. The only communal fowling left in Britain is the Lewis gannet hunt, protected by law since 1954. Modern threats - habitat loss, pollution, overfishing - pose more harm to birds than fowling did. The Faroese are the only islanders where traditions survive, and annually around 150,000 birds are harvested. Battery hens are cheap, and safe to acquire, but are they more ethical?


Seabirds and people lived in balance, and thousands of eggs were eaten each year. Northern and Western Islanders had largely abandoned harvesting eggs by the time gathering them was banned in Britain in 1954. The Faroese still collect them from the wild for food, but British islanders are largely too genteel now for seafowl eggs, even it was legal!


Listen: Ian Tait will be interviewed for Radio Scotland’s ‘Sunday Morning’ live show on Sunday 31 January at 10.00am, where he will be discussing the Fair Game exhibition and together with a panel discussing what causes society to change its behavior, and how/if it should be changed more.

Find out more: Follow the links to find out about the Between Islands project, Shetland’s new online exhibition, ‘Fair Game.

Related Posts

New exhibition coming soon: ‘Allover’ – a photographic journey into 1970s Fair Isle knitwear by Chris Morphet

Shetland Museum and Archives is delighted to announce the opening of its latest exhibition next Saturday, ‘Allover’ celebrating ...

Read more

The Crafts of Foragers - new display

Shetland Museum and Archives is proud to announce a new display, The Crafts of Foragers, offering a captivating glimpse into ...

Read more

Shetland Museum unveils Twenty Shades of Blue in new art exhibition inspired by Shetland’s Seascapes

Shetland Museum is delighted to announce the opening of an inspiring new exhibition, Twenty Shades of Blue, in the Gadderie space this ...

Read more

New photographic exhibition capturing 1970s social history

A new photographic exhibition opens today at Shetland Museum and Archives which provides a glimpse into an aspect of Shetland’s ...

Read more

‘All About Everything’ featuring the creative work of Eric Gray students

The creative and colourful work of Eric Gray students is on display from today in a new exhibition ‘All About Everything’ at the ...

Read more

Marion Ninianson’s Roup

Roup is a word not commonly used in Shetland any more, although the Shetland Times in 1962 advertised a house in Scalloway “for sale ...

Read more

New summer exhibition Ebbe and Flow to open this weekend

A new exhibition celebrating cultural and maritime connections with Scandinavia through the work of Scottish and Norwegian artists ...

Read more

Shetland Amenity Trust celebrates collaboration with Shetland Family History Group in acquiring Gilbert Goudie’s Notebook

Shetland Amenity Trust is delighted to announce the successful acquisition of a significant 19th century notebook to the Shetland ...

Read more

Wonderful woolly evening at the Shetland Museum

What a fantastic evening at the Shetland Museum celebrating the announcement of the new Shetland Wool Week Patrons, the Doull Family, ...

Read more

Shining a light on Ann Harriet Pottinger this International Women's Day

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2024 we shine a light on Ann Harriet Pottinger, née Hunter, one of many unsung, hard-working ...

Read more

New book of Shetland Fine Lace Knitting launched

A new publication, ‘Shetland Fine Lace Knitting – Recreating patterns from the past’ by Shetland Museum’s textiles curator, ...

Read more

Profound new exhibition, Polar North, captures the fragility of the Arctic landscape

A profound new exhibition which captures the fragile and shifting beauty of the Arctic landscape opens this Sunday 10 March at Da ...

Read more

Shetland Museum and Archives launches series of ‘Thursday Lates’ heritage talks

Evenings celebrating Shetland’s rich culture and heritage will begin next month as Shetland Museum and Archives launches its ...

Read more

Be My Valentine

It’s that time of year, Valentine’s Day, the 14th of February. In the Shetland Archives Catalogue references to Valentines are ...

Read more

Old style islands courtships

We’re warming ourselves up to the idea of Valentine’s Day. Some might say Shetlanders are not renowned for being romantics and ...

Read more