The Enid Blyton Society

It is not really explained in the book where they are but there are so many islands (including many of them uninhabited) that it could be almost anywhere off Northern Scotland. Just think you might find Puffin Island if you go off in your own boat! Or even see a Great Auk.

So many Puffins this evening - I can see about 30 or more including 7 or 8 near the camera.

In Chapter 6 of The Sea of Adventure Bill says they're heading for islands off the north-west coast of Scotland. He adds that there are hundreds of them, some too small to map. I imagine Enid Blyton kept the details vague on purpose so she could fit the islands to the plot without having to worry about real-life features, actual distances, etc. She may have visited some small islands in Scotland but I doubt she would have ventured very far from the mainland.

Thank you, Anita and Francis. I hope we can include one of the islands.
Skye would also be a destination that I find quite intriguing.

I saw a Great Auk! Unfortunately it was a stuffed version in a museum shown on a program yesterday. Apparently there were many thousands of them but they were wiped out in the 19th century to provide feathers for women's hats. They were too large and unwieldy to fly so they were almost literally a sitting target.

Anita Bensoussane wrote:In Chapter 6 of The Sea of Adventure Bill says they're heading for islands off the north-west coast of Scotland. He adds that there are hundreds of them, some too small to map. I imagine Enid Blyton kept the details vague on purpose so she could fit the islands to the plot without having to worry about real-life features, actual distances, etc. She may have visited some small islands in Scotland but I doubt she would have ventured very far from the mainland.

Thank you, Anita. I should have noted the direction having read the book at least 10 times! How do you manage to keep an eye on all our posts? it is very impressive.

Francis wrote:I saw a Great Auk! Unfortunately it was a stuffed version in a museum shown on a program yesterday. Apparently there were many thousands of them but they were wiped out in the 19th century to provide feathers for women's hats. They were too large and unwieldy to fly so they were almost literally a sitting target.

I've never seen one, but will check it out on Wiki. It's too bad they are extinct.

I watched a program about auks last night but had to switch it off as there was a protracted sequence showing the current day killing and eating of puffins on Iceland - there was no need for that.

Francis wrote:Thank you, Anita. I should have noted the direction having read the book at least 10 times! How do you manage to keep an eye on all our posts? it is very impressive.

Yes, I'm very impressed with Anita's knowledge about every single EB book.
Anita, you must have at least one small room in your house dedicated to your large EB book collection?

Francis wrote:I watched a program about auks last night but had to switch it off as there was a protracted sequence showing the current day killing and eating of puffins on Iceland - there was no need for that.

Francis, my impression about animal documentaries on TV is similar. They used to be pleasant way back in the 1960's and 1970's. Then all off a sudden these docus became too graphic/realistic for me to bear watching them (showing lions eating some prey that they were ripping into pieces and munching on...no thanks!).
I once watched Animal Planet once when I recorded a documentary on merkats, but haven't been back to the channel ever since, afraid it might show more lions doing the same thing.
The only exception from the rule: if they show docus on wolves (my favorite animals), I watch.

This was particularly bad as it showed humans killing puffins - showed the puffins dying and being chopped up. I don't like seeing predators killing and eating either - but at least that was in the 'natural world'. The sequence lasted 10 minutes before I switched off. BBC hang your head in shame.

Francis wrote:So many Puffins this evening - I can see about 30 or more including 7 or 8 near the camera.

Francis, I can count 10 puffins right now. It's about 4:55 p.m. in the UK. And another gorgeous day on Burhou and Alderney.

Francis wrote:Thank you, Anita. I should have noted the direction having read the book at least 10 times! How do you manage to keep an eye on all our posts? it is very impressive.

I'm on the website just about every day so I generally manage not to let the posts mount up too much.

Chrissie777 wrote:Yes, I'm very impressed with Anita's knowledge about every single EB book.
Anita, you must have at least one small room in your house dedicated to your large EB book collection?

I wish I did! Our house is a small 2-bedroom terrace so the books (mainly paperbacks) are in bookcases in the lounge-diner and in the front bedroom - and also in the wardrobe, in boxes and in piles on the floor.

Francis wrote:I watched a program about auks last night but had to switch it off as there was a protracted sequence showing the current day killing and eating of puffins on Iceland - there was no need for that.

Do you mean the programme showed puffins being eaten in communities which have always relied on them as part of their diet? If that's the case, maybe the people concerned take measures to ensure they don't deplete the puffin population?

That is true, Anita, and they are not over exploited - however I didn't want to see this happen on television and certainly not a prolonged sequence and people no longer need to rely on eating seabirds to survive. Puffins are starting to suffer massive reductions in numbers due to over exploitation of Krill by factory ships which is another issue.

Puffin Island is more like Gull Island at the moment and I'm wondering whether the puffins have already departed for the ocean.

They might!
I was never able to watch them for as long as this summer.