Farne Isles

Well it has been a very long time since I've had a good opportunity to go exploring without the family, so when the opportunity arose on the Bank Holiday, I grabbed it. The Farnes have a fantastic reputation for the sea birds and it is a place I have always wanted to visit but have never quite made it. So it was some excitement that I made the 50 mile trip from Monkseaton to Seahouses to catch the boat.
It was a bright clear morning, and despite the strong winds of the night before, conditions seemed perfect. I parked up and made the short walk down to the docks only to find that, due to the swell, no boats were sailing! Disaster! However I was determined to make the most of the day and so spent the morning making my way south along the beach, clambering out across the rocks to do some sea watching. All the expected species could be seen feeding and flying aout across the water: Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Gannet, Kittiwake, Fulmar, Black-headed Gull, Sandwich tern (which were diving spectacularly), Common Tern, Shag, Cormorant, Guillemot and Puffin. Only the Razorbilla remained elusive.
It was away form the sea that some of the best treats were to be found. The docks housed some very accomodating Eiders. Rock Pipits flittered around the rocks, I even came across a small family with some recently fledged youngsters. Ringed Plovers worked their way along the tideline, snapping up the many flies taht covered the drying sea weed. These miniscule insects provided great feeding for Swallows, House Martins and Sand Martins that hade made their home in the sandy cliff faces. A little further along Kittiwakes had created a small high rise that was so close to the beach it was possible to reach out and touch them. A couple of pairs of FUlmar had also joined the raucous bredding site.

As I strolled back to the car I passed back thorugh the docks only to discover that one of the boat operators were running 2 sailings, the later of which was the full tour of the cluster of islands that make up the Frane Isles and an hour on Inner Farne.
The tour was exactly what I had hoped for: spectatcular views of some of our finest bird life as well as fantastic views of the local Grey Seals (and possibly a Common/ Harbour Seal). The highlight was not the garish colours of the Puffins bill or the glossy black crested appearance of the shags, nor the rolling, inquisitive nature of the seals, but the constant barrage of Arctic Tern attacks on Inner Farne. The bravery of such a small creature taking on the relatively giant humans that wondered through their nesting colocny was incredible, if a little painful from time to time (even a cap can be pecked through).

The trip provided an excellent finale to waht had already been a superb wildlife watching day. See some more pictures in the Birds Gallery.