The Farne Islands

In June 2021 a little family weekend away to Northumberland was had with the main aim of the trip being a boat ride out to the Farne Islands to see and photograph the thousands of nesting seabirds, mainly Puffins!

I had read up on these trips with different options available ranging from simply sailing around the islands, to landing on the islands and spending a few hours photographing these birds at close quarters before being picked up again later in the day. Alas due to covid, nobody was allowed to land on the islands so the only option in the end was a 2 hour ride around the islands.

There are a couple of boating companies that run tours from the harbour at Seahouses which is around 30 minutes south of Berwick-upon-Tweed. I chose Serenity and booked online for the lunch time sailing. Cost was around £25 each. We arrived at Seahouses with plenty of time to spare and had a little wander around, there isn’t too much here but a large Farne Island gift shop.

After a little wait we were summoned to board the boat at the bottom of a slipway in the harbour. Seating around the boat gave everyone a good view around and due to covid the boat wasn’t packed which allowed everyone to move around a bit more to catch better glimpses of wildlife as we came across it. We set off from the harbour with a bit of a choppy sea to begin with for the 15 minute ride to the first Farne Island. The sea soon calmed down and we were on “Puffin watch” challenging my daughter with who can see the first Puffin…

As we neared the Islands more and more sea birds were flying past us and indeed swimming past us! my daughter pointing and yelling “Puffin”….”Puffin”…..”Razorbill”….”Puffin” etc.
A good view of Bamburgh castle was also had as we sailed past. The boat captain did a brilliant job of sailing around the Islands and slowing down at various points to talk about the species of birds we were looking at. The first point was full of Guillemots….

Guillemots spend their lives at sea, only coming onto land to nest. They are one of the most numerous cliff nesting seabirds in the UK and are members of the “Auk” family of birds. They are a chocolatey brown to black colour with a white belly although some are also known as “Bridled Guillemots” which have the addition of a white ring around the eyes resembling spectacles! They can also resemble Penguins all stood in their colonies.

Where there are Guillemots there are usually Razorbills too, another member of the Auk family. Again, small black coloured birds this one with a razor like beak, giving it its name. We also encountered plenty of Herring Gulls and Kittiwakes, a smaller type of gull which again comes to our cliffs to breed before spending the rest of their time out on the Atlantic ocean.

Onto the next of the islands and now we were seeing plenty of Puffins, even some with bills full of sand eels, which are in fact fish - not eels! These fish are one of the primary reasons for choosing a breeding location - the availability of food. Most of these sea birds feed on these little fish, diving down as far as 60 meters using their wings as flippers!

Atlantic Puffins, another member of the Auk family also spend their lives out at sea and arrive on our shores in the spring for breeding. They mate for life but spend the winter apart so once they return they wait for their partner to turn up and rekindle their relationship with beak tapping before making their nest. They dig out burrows as well as squat inside old Rabbit burrows and they lay a single egg. The young chick is called a Puffling!

After marvelling at the Puffins we were off again, this time coming across a mixed colony of Grey and Common Seals. Most laid out on the rocks sun bathing with some more inquisitive visitors in the water. There were even a couple of young pups! Grey Seals breed in the winter months whereas Common Seals give birth to a single pup in the summer.

Heading back round to the beginning now and past more Seals on the way, we encountered more colonies of the same seabirds including European Shags - a type of Cormorant but more prominent in coastal areas. They look black but close up their plumage is actually a dark glossy green colour.

We also saw the summer migrant bird the Arctic Tern, These birds travel from the Arctic to breeding grounds in the northern hemisphere summer season, then head south to Antarctica taking in a southern hemisphere summer too! Average migrations can be 44,000 mile round trips - It is by far the longest migration in the animal kingdom which is astonishing. We couldn’t get close to these birds however but in a non covid time when you can land on the islands you can get close, In fact some get too close and the Terns dive bomb those who do!

And with that we were heading back to Seahouses! a fantastic trip with birds all around us, everyone on the boat had great views and everyone was excited at the sight of so many Puffins! The captain of the boat was excellent too with his commentary and facts which was helpful for all levels of knowledge, beginner or seasoned expert! We all said without hesitation we would come back next year and do it again, hopefully landing on the island or maybe try one of the sunset trips which sounded magical! I highly recommend the trip to the Farne Islands. We even teamed it with a couple of nights in Berwick-Upon-Tweed and spent some time on the coast at Bamburgh and Beadnell Bay which is an official area of outstanding natural beauty….and it was stunning!

All images copyright to Graham Perkin

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