Last day of July

A late straggler - an Arctic Tern ready to feed a chick

Adam enjoying the final day of July

Friday 31st July 2009 comments
It’s the end of July and the Farnes is about to experience a major change. As from tomorrow (1st August), Inner Farne will open its doors all day (the island is only open from 13:30-17:00 during the summer to reduce disturbance to the breeding seabirds). It’s also goodbye to Staple Island for another season, as the island closes its doors, having been open since 1st May but with the disappearance of the Guillemots and Puffins, Staple has lost its major attraction. The next stage for Staple will be the birth of the Grey Seal pups, but that’s not for another three months…

Its also change for the birds of the islands, as focus now switches to the migrants of the Farnes. The seabirds are heading off, having seen one of the most successful breeding seasons of recent years. However small migrant birds will start moving south and start using the islands as a service station, feeding up in the relative safety of the predator-free islands before moving on south to southern Europe and beyond. Its not just small passage migrants we’ll be recording, but also interesting seabirds blown off course, or waders from the high arctic on passage, or hopefully an odd rarity or two (just to quicken the pulse!). For the birders on the islands, its now autumn (but yes, its still summer).

However it’s still July and we’ve still got breeding seabirds on the islands, as Shags have young, Fulmars have small youngsters (they’ll not fledge until late August) and we’ve still got a few Puffin to see, but only just.

Highlights: Cuckoo – a juvenile (our second of the year) arrived on Inner Farne this morning and spent fifteen minutes on the island before departing west, Wheatear 1 – out first autumn returnee, Swallow 6 south.

The Puffins have just left the building...

Gone but not forgotten

Goodbye for another year

Wednesday 29th July comments:
Goodbye and good luck. Tuesday 28th July was no ordinary day on the islands as all appeared well by mid-afternoon, but only a few hours later, they were gone. Almost the entire population of the Farne Island Puffins have gone and that is it. You won’t see them on the islands, you won’t see them at sea, they’ve gone and their not coming back (well for this year at least!).

Puffins are true ‘seabirds’ as they spend as little time as possible on land, so they come in, breed, raise a chick and leave, all within four months. The first Puffin egg was discovered on the Farnes on 28th April and here we are, only 92 days later and they’ve gone. It’s the same all over the UK, the ‘comical little fella’s’ have departed and will spend the next eight months out at sea, not returning to land. It’s a hardy life for a bird which is no bigger than a bag of sugar, but a reasonably successful one. Although there has been no full population censes this year, the season has been excellent as huge numbers of chicks have fledged and this is the end.

However for those visiting in the next few weeks, don’t be disappointed, we’ve got a few late stragglers, probably about 500 remain, but be quick, as they’ll be going soon! Its change elsewhere as well, as the Sandwich Terns, youngsters and parents have now completely moved away from the island ‘top’ – giving it a 'bare' feeling and certainly a lot quieter. The Arctic Terns are also on their way whilst the Guillemots and Razorbills have gone. Its also only a few days away before we open Inner Farne all day and we say goodbye to Staple Island for another season – blimey, where has time gone. It’s the ever changing face of a seabird colony and the Farne Islands.

Kitts on the wing

Look I can fly: a Kittiwake chick takes flight for the first time

Adult Kittiwake taking care of youngster

I'll show you how its done; adult Kittiwake in flight

Saturday 25th July comments:
Everyday brings more exciting news from the islands and its great to reveal that the pair of breeding Roseate Terns are now parents, as one of the eggs has hatched, so they’ll be full of busy finding food for the next few weeks. It’s also great news that we’ve actually got two pairs of Roseate Terns nesting, the first time we’ve had more than one pair since 2000!! Also despite appearing not to be sitting on their eggs, the Swallows have hatched five youngsters, so it’s all go on the islands.

Elsewhere more Kittiwake young are now flying – it’s a great sight following several years of dismal breeding failures, so fingers crossed it’s a step in the right direction for a bird in serious decline. Otherwise its business as usual as the Puffins remain (and showing very well) but be warned, it won’t last, they’ll all be gone, very, very soon…

Getting ready to go

Puffins with Brownsman in the back-ground - ready to go!

Puffin chick - not many remain, almost all gone

A welcome sight - fledged Arctic Tern chicks on Inner Farne pathway

Wednesday 22 July comments:
The seabird breeding season is approaching its final furlong. Apart from Fulmars, every other breeding species has free flying fledged young and where on our way to celebrating one of the best seabird breeding seasons we’ve ever witnessed. Sandeels galore continue to be caught by eager-eyed parents with hungry chicks whilst the weather continues to hold, but only just. A few more weeks and we’ll see the end game as birds will depart the rocky shores of the Farnes for wintering grounds which will range from the huge expanse of the North Sea to as far as the southern hemisphere. If anyone wants to see Puffins, you’ve not got long left – take it from me, their getting ready, ready to leave… watch this space.

As usual, visitors continue to arrive on a daily basis to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells (!) of the islands, whilst the warden team are coming to the end of monitoring as the birds depart. It won’t be long before we start work on vegetation management and the Grey Seals will be giving birth…well not just yet, but where it time going!

Dr Richard Bevan was with us again today, as we caught more adult Puffins to fix small ‘geo-locators’ too for the research we have been running this summer (and winter – hopefully). We also had a visit from ex-head warden Robin Harvey, now at Minsmere (always good to see an ex-warden, especially Rob who was a top Farnes warden) and ‘Kezia’, a Farnes blog fan who enjoyed her first ever visit to the islands.

Breeding birds: Guillemots and Razorbills have now all but gone (only a very small handful remain from the 40,000+ pairs we had), Puffins are grouping and showing amazingly well – it’s the best sight I’ve seen as ranks upon ranks of birds sit around the island ‘tops’. However don’t be fooled, the reason behind this, is because they are preparing to leave and not return until next spring, so be warned! The Ringed Plover family of four on Inner Farne are well on the way to fledging, whilst Oystercatcher young can be seen in flight across several islands. Arctic and Sandwich Tern are now producing huge numbers of fledged young and many have moved away from nest sites and onto roost sites along the rocky areas of the island – its an impressive sight at the evening roost! At long last, the first Kittiwake young are now flying and their season looks likes its been reasonable despite the recent weather,

Highlights: male Crossbill on Inner Farne today – our first in three years and part of the invasion which is happening down the east coast – expect more records to follow! Peregrine – a wandering juvenile, Grasshopper Warbler on Brownsman on 20th – migrants have started moving!

Butterflies: A good numbers of common residents as well as a small number of Painted Ladies and a Small Copper on Brownsman today

Cetaceans: two Bottle-nosed Dolphins seen the wardens from a Zodiac boat on 18th July is the only record of note recently

Lucky...this time.

Grim on Saturday

Pounding in from the north...

Shag family sticking together

Saturday 18th July comments:
We got lucky, very lucky… the past 24 hours has seen the worst weather the islands have experienced since we returned in late March. Strong northerly winds backed with continuous driving rain, non-stop for 24 hours has seen the islands go from parched, to waterlogged. The ponds, bone dry since late April, are now awash and flooding, Puffins burrows are saturated and water is streaming off the island tops.

If this weather had of struck just two weeks ago, it would have been catastrophic for our breeding seabirds. Thankfully the majority of Puffin chicks have fledged, Guillemots have long gone and the tern chicks are like ‘mini-adults’ and withstood the forces of nature. We did, as expected, have some casualties, but these were just very small in number and we’re thankful it wasn’t worse. Hopefully the wind will ease and the rain will disappear so we can get back on track and enjoy the summer weather. Role on Sunday...

Rainy days

Young Arctic Tern chick ready to go!

Gone but not forgotten - a few Eiders linger

Adult Kittiwake with chick

Friday 17th July comments:
The season marches on and we’ve hit another weather ‘snag’ as today has brought continuous rain and increasing wind, so sadly no visitors. Where now at the end game and fingers crossed (once again – we always hope for good weather out here!), the poor weather won’t continue for too long.

As the season progresses, our personnel changes and Stuart, our Farnes researcher departed the islands yesterday after a six week stay. Stuart has contributed a huge amount to the study of the Farne seabirds this year, especially Arctic Terns and also encouraged the lads to help in the ringing process. He’s been a great help and fitted in well with the team and the lifestyle of living on a rock in the North Sea. So many thanks Stuart, thanks for all the hard work.

It’s not only Stuart moving on, as it’s the time of year when wardens depart for well earned short holidays and Jason is off to some far flung destination, in the hunt for….birds. You can take a Farnes warden off the Farnes, but you can’t take the Farnes out of a Farnes warden.

Breeding birds: Fulmar chicks continue to hatch across the colonies whilst large numbers of Shag chicks are fledging and Cormorants have been very successful. Oystercatcher chicks are now flying whilst at least nine Ringed Plover chicks appear to be well on the way to fledging – a good number for the Farnes! Yet more Arctic, Common and Sandwich Tern chicks fledge on a daily basis – the islands are inundated with flying Tern chicks – it’s a great sight! The Roseate Terns continue to incubate but will the weather be there undoing? The majority of Guillemots and Razorbills have now gone – the cliffs are bare and it’s a very strange and silent sight. The Puffins have been gathering momentum and it’s only a matter of time before we’ll see them leave and when they leave, they go, all at once and before the end of July, so watch this space.

Highlights: Still quiet although waders have started moving through with recent count of Turnstone 165, Knot 76, Purple Sandpiper 52, Curlew 37, Whimbrel 1, Dunlin 5, Redshank 24 and Common Sandpiper 2.

Guille's on the up!

Guillemot with food

Family bliss: adult and chick

'Yellow-billed' Guillemot - one of three birds on the islands

Monday 13th July comments:

The season continues to go from strength to strength and the good news is that other North Sea seabird colonies appear to be reporting ‘good seasons’ as far north as Shetland, so things looking good! At present, all seabirds are doing well on the Farnes and we are on the verge of some stunning results, so long as the weather maintains itself.

The first of the population results are now complete and we’ve had an increase of Guillemots across the islands, rising from 43,864 individuals to 48,126 individuals (about 32,244 breeding pairs). As Guillemots do not construct nests (they tuck their single egg under their feet), we have to count the population as ‘individuals’ rather than pairs – because we can’t see the nest to confirm a breeding pair. Therefore most Guillemot populations are given as ‘individuals’ as apposed to breeding pairs. However the main focus is the general population trend and it’s increasing – the Farnes only boasted 3,787 only thirty years ago, so it’s been a huge increase in such a short space of time.

A close relative of the Guillemot, the Razorbill (and vastly outnumbered by its commoner cousin) is also reporting an increase in numbers this year, but only just! The breeding population now stands at 332 pairs, compared to 326 from last year and only 29 pairs in 1979! So things looking good and both species are reporting good numbers of fledged young so a brilliant year all round.

Away from the breeding seabirds, the weather has settled and visitor boats are now sailing again after a four day absence. The sea late last week was ‘monstrous’ and eventually we reopened to the public on Sunday. The week ahead appears to be very settled, which will benefit the birds and the visitors alike. Its not long now before all the Guillemots and Razorbills have gone for another season and the Puffins won’t be far behind them. We’re now entering the ‘end game’ of the breeding season and things will change once again.

Highlights: The Farnes 12th ever Cory’s Shearwater moved north off the islands on Saturday 11th July. The bird was tracked moving through Staple Sound before heading out eastwards to the open sea. The same evening seawatch produced over 102 Manx Shearwater and the first Sooty Shearwater of the autumn. The month of July witnesses a noticeable influx of waders to the islands and the WeBs counts will reveal more, with increases in Turnstone, Purple Sandpiper and Knot amongst others.

Breeding Birds: It’s turning out to be one of the best seasons ever, as huge numbers of young are now fledging. Fulmar have chicks (they’ll not fledge young until late August), young Kittiwakes are on the verge of flying whilst everything else has seen the first fledglings take to the air. Its an exciting time but we’ve still got plenty more to report.