Saturday 18 July 2009

Farne Islands 18/7/09

I have just returned from the farnes today. I love the Farnes. It's one of my favourite places to go so I have been wanting to go for weeks. Anyway, we got the 10am ferry across to Staple Island then to Inner Farne. We returned at 4:30pm. We spent 3 and a half hours on each island. The bad weather didn't stop us! We arrived in Seahouses at 9:30(ish) to have a look on the rocks. Not much around so we went straight to the ferry. It left prompt on 10 and we made our way to Staple Island. We saw the usual creatures on the way over such as: puffin, guillemot, razorbill, gannet, Arctic, common and sandwich terns and seals. When we arrived on Staple Island, we saw the big colony of guillemots on the way in which was astonishing to see that many (although I saw them last year it was still amazing!) I spent the first 30 minutes standing at the entrance of the island taking puffins in flight! After many attempts, I got a good one. We walked round the island and as we wandered round, we noticed that a few guillemots had white eye stripes but most of them didn't. We thought this was strange and don't know why that is. There was colonies everywhere such as: puffin, fulmar, razorbill, shag, guillemot... the list could nearly go on forever! When we got back to the boat and went to Inner Farne, we saw 2 whimbrel as we past Brownsman which was quite nice. Inner Farne was much the same but with a difference. The Terns. Arctic, Common and Sandwich Terns. As soon as we got onto the island we got attacked from everywhere by the arctic terns. Luckily, we had hats so they didn't hurt but their peck hurts if you don't have a hat. Most of them had young but a couple still had eggs. It is quite late in year for eggs, we only saw 3 nests with them. On the journey back to Seahouses, we saw loads of gannets. I was interested in seeing little terns, so I asked the warden where to see them and he suggested Long Nanny. So, we went there. When we got there, we saw loads of arctic terns and after looking carefully I managed to see 5 pairs of Little Terns. I had never seen little terns before and it was nice to them nesting. On the way back home, we saw a hare run off the road to the side where we took some photos. Puffins Galore! Babies Everywhere: Grey Seal Shag, Kittiwake and Arctic Tern Razorbill
Brown Hare

6 comments:

  1. You have some great shots there Jack.

    The Guillemots you describe with the white lining are bridled Guillemots. Not a sub species but a variety. The further North you go the more of the bridled variety you find. I seem to remember that it is thought that there may be a link to sea temperature. It gets a little complicated so I'll let you read up on it.:-)
    Cheers Brian

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  2. Brilliant photos - liked you diary from Mull (my favorite place). LAPLAND

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  3. Seems like Brian has got his lines crossed. Your Razorbills (not Guillemots) are quite common with the facial line showing regularly in summer.

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  4. Great Puffin pics Jack, aren't they beautiful. Linda

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  5. Excellent stuff - glad you enjoyed the visit - its an amazing place and so accessible to everyone. Your photos are top notch and enjoyed the right up - just come visit us again next season! best wishes

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  6. Thanks everyone for your comments. Sorry for the confusion. I was actually talking about the guillemots although I haven't put any photos of them on. Easy mistake to make!

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