United Kingdom June 2009, Farne Islands

A long lasting wish of mine was to visit a major seabird colony in Britain. We don't have those in the Netherlands and the only way to see seabirds in Holland is to spent long hours looking over sea, hoping some to fly by, often in a rather quick and unsatisfactory fashion. Therefore visiting a big seabird colony would be a way to obtain those satisfactory sightings that are so rare in the Netherlands. One of those big seabird colonies are the Farne Islands. It has a rough 20.000 pairs of Atlantic Puffins, 16.000 pairs of Common Guillemots, 5.000 pairs of Black-legged Kittiwakes, 2.000 pairs of Arctic Terns, 1.000 pairs of European Shags, 500 pairs of Razorbills and 250 pairs of Northern Fulmars. This makes it the perfect destination to fulfill this wish of mine.

In June 2009 we spent a weekend in Northumberland. We flew to Newcastle and drove to Seahouses. Here we based ourselves for the weekend. In the evening we went to the shore and already enjoyed a small colony of Black-legged Kittiwakes and Northern Fulmars, next to some Pied Wagtails and Common Ringed Plovers.

Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). Picture taken by Hartmut Fischer.

Northern Fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis). Picture taken by Hartmut Fischer.

Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis). Picture taken by Hartmut Fischer.

The next day however we got to enjoy much larger numbers of seabirds after a very tasty English Breakfast. We had booked a full day bird watch trough this site. This full day bird watch includes a visit to Staple Island and Inner Farne and sails around the Grey Seal colonies as well. This trip costs £35.00 per adult. We first landed on Staple Island. This islands hosts the majority of Atlantic Puffins, Guillemots and Razorbills. Even before we landed on the island we already saw many of these auks swimming on the seas and the closer we got the island the more we saw (and smellled). Staple Island was absolutely amazing. The sheer numbers were dazzling. Puffins were flying absolutely everywhere and certain rocks were completely covered in Guillemots. It was bettered than I had ever imagined.

Atlantic Puffins (Fratercula arctica) on Staple Island. Picture taken by Hartmut Fischer. 

Cliffs at Staple Island

Bridled and Non-bridled forms of Common Guillemot (Uria Aalge)

Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula Arctica)

Razorbill (Alca Torda)

A couple of thousand Guillemots (Uria Aalge) on Staple Island. Picture taken by Hartmut Fischer.

After that we landed on Inner Farne. This islands also hosts large numbers of auks, but next to those it also has several colonies of terns, mostly Arctic Terns, but also some Sandwich and Common Terns. The Arctic Terns vigorously attack the birders that come close to their nests. This isle has a complete different vibe from the previous one, but it is still an incredible place to walk around.

Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula Arctica) carrying fish. Picture taken by Hartmut Fischer.

Me getting attacked by an Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea). Picture taken by Hartmut Fischer

Angry Arctic Terns (Sterna paradisaea). Picture taken by Hartmut Fischer.

Angry European Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis)

Gannets (Morus bassanus)

After six hours of enjoying ridiculously close-up views of all species breeding at both islands, we headed back to Seahouses. On the way back we also enjoyed some Gannets flying past the boat! We had an absolutely perfect day. I highly recommend visiting the Farne Islands to everyone, birder or non-birder, as everybody will be amazed by this nature spectacle! This blog post can be downloaded as PDF file here.

Grey Seals (Halichoerus grypus) in front of Staple Island. Picture taken by Hartmut Fischer.