Wildlife conservationists in Ireland are expressing concerns that filming of the next Star Wars movie will interrupt the breeding season of native birds on the remote island of Skellig Michael.

Filming of Star Wars VII began on Monday on the unpopulated, remote island, which is home to a number of bird species including puffins, peregrine falcons and guillemots, which breed at this time of year.

"It would have been preferable if filming took place out of the breeding season, in September, when I believe it was originally scheduled," Dr Steve Newton of BirdWatch Ireland told Radio Kerry.

"But it is very hard. Skellig is only open to the public really between May and sometime in September. But I would have preferred the filming to take place in September than in July, when we have a lot of breeding birds still."

The Star Wars crew, headed by director JJ Abrams, will continue filming on the Unesco world heritage site until Wednesday.

On Monday morning, the crew and equipment were transported to the island by boatmen from nearby Portmagee, who received €1,000 each for projected loss of earnings from tourism during filming.

James Hickey, the chief executive of the Irish Film Board, said the filming programme had been "designed specifically to avoid disturbance of breeding birds", adding that the timing was approved by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

While it was only revealed that Star Wars VII would be filmed on Skellig Michael last week, the Irish Independent reported that negotiations began over six months ago, after concerns were raised about potential opposition by conservation groups were news of the location leaked.

In 2013, 13,221 people visited Skellig Michael, which is located 12km off the coast of Kerry.