The Ginger Naturalist : Fantastic Farne Islands

In June, I made a visit to the wonderful Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast. The Farnes are a collection of small rocky islands offshore from the small town of Seahouses, made famous for their staggering populations of nesting seabird and huge grey seal colony.

We went out with Billy Shiels boat trips on an all day Birdwatch, landing on Staple Island first of all. on the way out to the islands, we came across a large (30 strong) pod of very playful bottle-nosed dolphins.

Touring Staple Island, the enormous numbers of guillemots and puffins in the water and lining almost every available nesting site was just staggering. Once landed, we could enjoy the sight of hundreds of puffins flying on to the island at speed and crash landing near to their burrow to avoid having their sand eel meals being seized by gulls.

Fulmars and kitiwakes were also present in good numbers and we came across several eider nests hidden in the grassy tussocks. The landscape of Staple Island was more rugged and craggy with row upon row of guillemots and razorbills, along the ledges closest to the water. Higher up were the kittiwakes and shags and further back in the grassy areas were the puffins.

Moving on to Inner Farne, which is the largest of the islands and was once a home for saints and monks, we first had to run the gauntlet of the protective arctic terns. It was wonderful to see these ocean wondering birds up close and see how they nest literally all over the island, even right next to the path you walk. The first 100 meters of the walk onto Inner Farne is where the highest concentration of tern nests are and where a hat is essential as protection from the terns defending their nests nearby.