Trip up to the Farne Isles



About 6 weeks ago I embarked on a trip to Northumberland on the east coast.I was heading for the Farne isles, a small cluster of islands acccessed by boat from Seahouses.I left early morning and was walking around the little fishing port by  8.30am.



Plenty of Eider duck were around the harbour,most had small broods of duckling with them,a nice way to start the day!

It was the vast seabird colonies that I`d come to see and photograph,and as usual, Puffins were one of the first birds that I encountered.Many had youngsters deep within their burrows and the adults were kept busy fetching sandeels for them to eat!As the Puffin landed with a beakfull of eels, they had to run the gauntlet of black headed gulls trying to relieve them of their catch.

Arctic tern were breeding everywhere and each nest was marked with a pebble and a number.

It was challenging trying to capture the puffin returning to their burrows with beaks laden with sandeels!

Not the best light to work with,but a few decent images were obtained!

Bit of a comical bird don`t you think!

I believe that it had been a great year for sandeels and the puffins were taking full advantage!

Sandwich Tern also breed on the islands,albeit in much smaller numbers than their cousins!

These too were busy feeding chicks!

Another breeding bird was the Shag,which was to be found along the cliff edges amongst the many kittiwakes and guillemot!

On the journey around the islands were many Atlantic seals,who had hauled themselves onto the large rocks to rest.They wern`t at all fazed by the boats going near to them!!