Merry Christmas

Farne Islands Team 2011

From all the Farne Islands team, wishing everyone who reads and follows the blog a very

MERRY CHRISTMAS

and a

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I hope everyone has a great festive period and see you ion the New Year ready for another crazy season on the Farne Islands. Keep on following us!

A look back at the season...

Dusk on Brownsman with Arctic Terns

Numbers up this year - nesting Eider

1,800 pairs of Arctic Terns

A poor year for Sandwich Terns

Taking over - nearly 50,000 Guiillemots

Record numbers of Razorbill nesting

Fulmars approaching 300 pairs

One of the birds of the year - Black-headed Bunting

And we're off!

Last but not least - final day Seal pup (Ciaran Hatsell)

Kitchen looking clean for the winter (David Steel)


Bedroom all sorted (David Steel)

Closing time on Brownsman (Ciaran Hatsell)

Everything but the kitchen sink leaving (David Steel)

Boat being packed

Goodbye Brownsman (David Steel)

The team celebrate in the pub!

Thursday 8th December comments: We've made it. Sunday was an epic day as the Farne Island wardens eventually departed west to the mainland for the winter. Following an early start, the cottage was scrubbed clean, hovered and eventually locked down as the boat arrived to take the Seal team away. Eventually we docked in Seahouses and that was that, we had returned to the mainland and the Farnes season was over.

As usual, the team celebrated into the small hours of Sunday morning and following a slow start (a few sore heads), everyone departed for home, from Oxfordshire to Lancashire and beyond. It's been a brilliant year, the team have been outstanding and they have achieved so much. Over the next few weeks, I'll bring you some of those highlights and look back at some of the great Farne moments from 2011 but until then, enjoy our final day photos. Thank-you for following.

The Final Count Down

Bathroom surprise...a second coat pup back in the house (Ciaran Hatsell)

Yellow hands - its not just the pups with yellow dye on them (Anne Wilson)

Cleaning almost complete

Head warden totting up totals (Ciaran Hatsell)

Saturday 3rd December comments: Will we or won't we? Our final full day on the islands was another busy one, as we completed the Seal counts on Brownsman and Staple Island to finish the seal work for another year (full round-up soon!). The rest of the day was made up of cleaning the cottage as we give it the annual scrub down, ready for the winter. However as the windows rattled, it reminded us that not everything might go according to plan..

The wind was blowing stiffly from the north-west and with further predictions of strong winds, we may not be escaping for the mainland tomorrow. It's been a while since we've been to Seahouses and we're all looking forward to some home comforts and Christmas. However fingers crossed for a safe escape and I'll let you know if we make it... role on Sunday morning.

The Angel of the North

First of the year...a nice Glaucous Gull flyby (Jamie Coleman)

A northern angel (Jamie Coleman)

Our new postman (Ciaran Hatsell)

Happy Birthday Bobby Pearson

Tuesday 29th November comments: Its been another windy day (the wind picked up to gale force by late afternoon) and with the combination of rain, it wasn't a pleasant day on the Farnes. However this place can even surprise me after all these years and a first-winter Glaucous Gull, five Little Auks, a juvenile Pomarine Skua and a late Black Redstart were real highlights at this late stage.

Speaking of late stage, we are starting to pack the islands down as we hope to leave for the winter this weekend, but the weather may have another say, with gales forecast for several more days yet. However if it continues to bring birds, we're not going to complain.

On a final note, top boatman Bobby Pearson celebrated another birthday (21 again) and although he may support the 'wrong' football team, we'll let him off - have a pint on us Bobby. Happy Birthday.

Storm continues...

Longstone at midnight..the storm rages (Graeme Duncan)

Today, an epic sea (Graeme Duncan)

Staple Island battered (Graeme Duncan)

Sunday 27th November comments: The storm continues and what a 24 hours. Following a very sleepless night (eventually got some shut-eye sometime after 4am) the storm continued to rage across the islands throughout the day and into another night. The cottage has gone unscathed, the boats and island equipment is fine but we still don't know the outcome for our Seals.

It appears many have scrambled clear up onto the islands, although inevitably we will have had some losses. Their plight was not helped by a storm surge late afternoon, where at least one colony, Northern Hares, was being washed over. It'll be a few days before we gain access to the colonies, and it may not be for the faint hearted. The trials and tribulations of the Farne Islands. Its never dull.

Bed time

Sunday 26th November comments: This is no ordinary blog post, but then again this is no ordinary place. The clock has just ticked past 01:39 during the early hours of Sunday morning and I'm wide awake, unable to sleep. I'm in Brownsman cottage, a building which has been here since the turn of the 19th Century and am I pleased they knew how to build things to last back then.

The wind is smashing the islands. It's not just a brisk wind, it's not even a gale, it's gone beyond that. This could be classified as 'severe storm force' and I suspect it is possibly now touching 70mph with nothing stopping it in its tracks. On the mainland, hills and woodlands, buildings and trees help reduce the force of the wind, but not out here, nothing.

Out here, its just brutal. We've living in a former lighthouse keepers cottage, standing on a cliff top, being battered, smashed and pounded from all directions. The main bedroom is built into the attic and we can hear every tile, as they are being almost ripped from their holdings. If I'll get any sleep tonight, I may be lucky and the cottage may be lucky if it escapes without any damage. This is one beast of a storm. I've experienced some big storms in my time out here, but this is up there with the best of them. Mother Nature is certainly dealing us a heavy blow tonight.

However forget my sleepless worries, the cottage will survive (maybe only just) and the islands boats are well tethered down, but our attention should focus elsewhere. This storm may not bring us problems but for one island resident, it could be really bad news. The bad news could be for our Grey Seals, as the pupping season is almost over and with the backing of big tides (currently over 5m in height out here - which is big), the pups could be in trouble. However we'll not know until dawn breaks. Fingers crossed this isn't bad. Oh boy.

Time for sleep...maybe.