Auk-cellent!

Little Auk on the sea

One from last year; in the hand!

Wednesday 5th November comments: Little Auks are brilliant. These birds, a member of the Auk family, are incredible and as the name suggest, are little. These birds are smaller than Puffins and are so small they actually feed on plankton rather than fish! So there you go, fact of the day!

These small birds don’t breed in Britain but if we get big northerly winds, huge numbers can be pushed down from the high arctic before readjusting and flying back north. Simple! Its at this moment birds are recorded along the east coast and there is no better place for seeing them than the Farne Islands; after all we stick four miles out to sea!

Today we recorded a plethora of these little fella’s as the day produced a total of 2,921 counted flying north. Other highlights included a good array of wildfowl and an impressive thirteen Pomarine Skua’s (all juveniles).

The Farnes is an impressive place for wildlife and don’t we just know it! Bring on tomorrow…

Today’s highlights:
Sooty Shearwater 1N
Red-throated Diver 26N, 10S
Great Northern Diver 2N, 5S
Brent Goose 5S dark-bellied
Shelduck 1N
Teal 93N
Wigeon 34N
Common Scoter 27N, 34S
**Velvet Scoter 9N, 2S
Goldeneye 23N
Red-breasted Merganser 4N
Long-tailed Duck 1N
Tufted Duck 1N
**Pomarine Skua 12N 1S
Arctic Skua 3N
Great Skua 10N, 5S
**Little Auks 2,921 north
**Black Guillemot 1 lingering

Puppy Love

Grey Seal pup...they have the cute factor!

Hello!

You ain't seen me, right!

Mum on guard...

Tuesday 4th November comments: The day’s are short, the nights are long but we’re still out here and we’ve got work to do! Yesterday the team spent the entire day on the Grey Seal colonies of the Farne Islands counting and marking all the newly born pups.

Overall a total of 252 pups were counted yesterday bringing our total to 518 born this autumn. However this is just one third of the expected total as over the next four weeks we hope to count another 1,000.

As for the team, we’ve closed the islands to the public following a very successful summer season but work and island life goes on. We’ll remain out on the Farnes until early December and we’ve got a lot to do before then…counting seal pups for starters! Planet Farnes is alive and well.

Seal Success

It's a hard life...

bath time needed!

Young pup suckling from mum.

Successful Seal Tours last week

Saturday 1st November comments: It’s cranking up. As we welcome in November we know we’ve got some work to do as over the next few weeks we’ll be in the thick of the action on our Grey Seal colonies.

Over the next ten days we’ll see the number of pup births peak on the Farnes and we’ll be counting and marking every single one. Our most recent visit to the colonies on Wednesday produced another 142 new pups bringing the autumns total to 266 born to date on the Farnes.

With several weeks still to go, we’ve got a lot more to count and as usual, we’ll bring you all the news from the islands.

Thrushed with Success

Thrushes in their thousands going over (David Kinchin-smith)

Dusky Warbler caught and ringed (David Kinchin-smith)

One of five Black Redstarts (David Steel)

Yellowhammer (David Kinchin-smith)

Farnes rare! Moorhen! (David Kinchin-smith)

Thursday 30th October comments: It’s been some day. Over the last few weeks, dominating westerly winds have held up all the thrushes hoping to leave Scandinavia to head to the UK for the winter…until today. At long last the winds switched, favourable conditions prevailed and the floodgates opened. And the Thrushes took their opportunity in some style.

From first light until darkness (and even beyond that) huge numbers of Thrushes were counted heading westwards towards the mainland for the winter. This spectacular site is always impressive but even more so today as nearly 20,000 birds were counted flying over the islands (including a Farnes record count for Fieldfare).

Alongside the Thrushes good numbers of other birds recorded today heading to Britain for the winter included Bramblings and Woodcocks amongst others. As expected for the Farnes we also pulled in a ‘good rarity’ as an elusive Ducky Warbler was discovered on Brownsman. This was only the seventh ever record of this rare Siberian visitor to the islands and the first since 2003 and was caught and ringed late on in the day.

All in all, an impressive day with some birds. What will tomorrow bring…

Thrush Passage (all counted flying west):

Ring Ouzel     1
Blackbird       1,372
Redwing         9,407
Fieldfare         8,245 *New Farnes record*
Song Thrush   200

Highlights:
Black-throated Diver 1N through Inner Sound
Water Rail on Inner Farne
Moorhen juvenile on Brownsman (rare on Farnes!)
Short-eared Owl 1 over the outer group
Woodcock 34 (noticeable influx)
DUSKY WARBLER 7th record for the Farne Islands but first since 2003
Yellow-browed Warbler 3
Black Redstart 5

Other highlights; Whooper Swan 3N (adults), Brent Goose 9N (pale-bellied), Wigeon 201N, Teal 40, Goldeneye 4N, Red-breasted Merganser 2N, Goosander 1N, Red-throated Diver 2N 1S, Sparrowhawk 1 west, Peregrine, Golden Plover 2, Ruff 1 west, Lapwing 3 west, Snipe 12, Arctic Skua 1S, Great Skua 2N, Little Gull 40 south, Goldcrest 6, Skylark 12, Blackcap 22, Chiffchaff 3, Robin 22, Dunnock 10, Wheatear (late individual!), Twite 4, Brambling 42, Chaffinch, Reed Bunting 4 and Yellowhammer 2.

Seal Tour Information

Seal tours are Go!

Tuesday comments: Seal Tour Information: The weather forecast (and sea state) for tomorrow Wednesday 29th October and Thursday 30th October suggests we will get landing boats on Staple Island (hopefully) to view the Grey Seal pups up close and personal. 

Boats will sail from Seahouses daily with allotted times of:

11:00am
12:00pm
13:00pm

There are three boat companies sailing at this time (in alphabetical order)

Glad Tidings 01665 720 316 (til 3pm) or 01665 720 308 (after 3pm)

St.Cuthberts 01665 720 388 (day)

Serenity 01665 721 667 (day) or 01665 720 760 (night)


Please check availability and book direct with the companies.

As this is a special National Trust event, the cost of entry is:
Adult: £10
Children: £5

This applies to all visitors including National Trust members. Throughout the Seal Tours (which occurs on Staple Island), Inner Farne will remain open with normal opening times and prices applying (National Trust members free).

To ensure the safety of all visitors on an active Grey Seal colony (and to avoid any undue disturbance to the Grey Seals), all visitors will be escorted and given a full briefing on landing. Anyone visiting should be aware of the physical nature of the seal tours as you’ll be walking over unstable terrain and negotiating uneven ground. Sturdy footwear is therefore recommended along with warm clothing.

Pups Away!

Can everyone be quiet please! Pup sleeping (Robert Hunt)

Thats better...nap time (Robert Hunt)

Pup and cow together (Robert Hunt)

Fight club; bulls fighting already (Robert Hunt)

Monday 27th October comments: We are now into the thick of things as the number of Grey Seal pups increases on a daily basis. Our last visit to the nurseries produced 124 pups and if weather allows, we’ll be back in for more counting in the next day or two.

As for the pups themselves, all appear fine as those youngsters born in recent weeks are being looked after by attentive mothers. It's not just the mothers, but Bull seals have arrived (and have started fighting...boys will be boys) whilst more and more cow seals arrive to give birth.

It’s never dull in a Farne Islands Seal colony and I’ll bring you more news and pictures in the next few days.

Ready, Steady, Pup!

Sleeping babies...

One of many Seal pups on the Farnes today

Hello world!

Mother and pup on South Wamses

Friday 24th October comments: At long last the weather has eased and we’ve gained access to our Grey Seal colonies and it’s kicked off in a big way! Several islands are now boasting good numbers with North Wamses island leading the way.

A total of 124 pups were counted this morning across the colonies with 53 on North Wasmes, 42 on South Wamses with a scattering on Brownsman, Staple, Northern Hares and Longstone End.

It’s that time of year as we’ll be bringing you lots of Seal news from now on so keep reading whilst we’ll keep counting!