NatureScot reports severe water shortages on Scotland’s Isle of May, including restrictions that limited residents to one shower a week during the 2025 season. But its annual reports do not say the island was about to close, or that visitors were turned away because of the shortage. The island’s rain-fed well began pumping again after heavy rain in early October 2025.
What happened to the Isle of May’s water supply?
The Isle of May’s drinking water comes from a well replenished by rain. NatureScot says the well does not refill through dry summer periods, leaving people on the island vulnerable when rainfall is scarce. In the 2025 season, residents were restricted to one shower per week until early October. The well started pumping after heavy rain during Storm Amy in early October, according to NatureScot’s 2025 annual report.
The problem was also acute in 2024. NatureScot reported that September rainfall was less than one quarter of the long-term average and that critical water shortages occurred late that month in its 2024 annual report.
How dry was the 2024–2025 season?
NatureScot measured 396.8 mm of rainfall on the Isle of May between October 2024 and September 2025. For context, it compared that total with a long-term average of 638 mm at nearby St Monance, based on 2014–2023 data. The agency estimated the island’s season at roughly 60–70% of that proxy average.
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Those figures are not a long-term comparison of rainfall measured on the island itself: NatureScot says it does not yet have a long-term island rainfall record. St Monance is a nearby reference point, not an island measurement.
Is the island closing to visitors?
NatureScot’s water reports do not announce a closure decision or say visitor access was suspended because of the shortage. Access to the island is by boat, and the agency recorded 16,137 visitors in the 2025 season. That is a report-period total, not a statement about current boat schedules or availability.
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What does the water shortage mean for puffins?
The reported shortage concerns the island’s water supply and residents’ use of it. NatureScot’s reports do not say it caused a puffin population decline or threatened the birds directly. The 2024 census estimated 52,000 apparently occupied puffin burrows, with a 95% confidence interval of 44,846–62,123. That figure counts estimated occupied burrows, not individual puffins; a burrow count should not be read as a count of birds.
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