Back to the Farne Islands

Atlantic Puffin

Arctic Tern

Kittiwake

Atlantic Puffin

Atlantic Puffin

Arctic Tern

Arctic Tern

Guillemot

Atlantic Puffin

Arctic Tern

Arctic Tern

Grey Seal

Guillemot

Eider

Guillemot

Sandwich Terns

The Farne Islands have been calling me for a number of weeks and following a very favourable weekend forecast we booked Friday off work and took the journey up north to our beloved Northumbria. 

We left home at 3.30am to give us time for a relaxing breakfast in Seahouses before getting the boat out at 9.30am. The all day trip give us the opportunity to take in Staple Island & Inner Farne. Before leaving Seahouses I picked up a Rosette Tern coming down the coast off the harbour car park.

On the journey out to Staple Island we were past by a variation of Gannets & Auks whilst a group of american photographers entertained us with their global adventures, all were armed with at least three serious cameras. 

As the boat moored a gathering of Puffins were watching us from the top of the cliff. The great thing about the Farnes is the birds are so comfortable in their surroundings you can sit in close proximity to birds and take in their daily routine. We enjoyed amazing views of Shags, Guillemot, Razorbills and Kittiwakes all with young. The local gulls were waiting for the Puffins to return from fishing before trying to steal their catch, the Puffins were very aware of this threat so were quickly in their burrows.

Over on Inner Farne, the Arctic Terns greeted everyone in a very protective way with many young chicks and a few remaining eggs all over the island. Many had nested close to the boardwalk which is an attraction to the breeding terns as the terns deem the more humans passing there will be less predators.

This years bird census is still on going but the wardens indicated despite the global decline in seabirds the Farnes remains an excellent location for breeding birds. Razorbills are the one species that did decline last year. To give you an idea of the number there are 43,000 pairs of Puffins, 476 pairs of Shag, 3158 pairs of Kittiwake, 1735 Arctic Tern & 49,900 pairs of Guillemot. 

Black-necked Grebe is star of the week at the pits

  

 

 Black-necked Grebe (Dennis Sinton)

Arctic Tern (Dennis Sinton)

 Litte-ringed Plover

 Litte-ringed Plover

 Local heard

Stunning individual

Steady easterly winds continued this week which certainly didn't assist migrating birds. This didn't stop us having a good week though. Find of the week was on Tuesday, when Rob Evans found the pit's third Black-necked Grebe in summer plumage. The bird was very active and dived almost continuously. I was on a late shift at work so didn't arrive until 6.30pm but it was great that all our regulars plus many more all connected. Chris Lane picked up two Arctic Terns when watching the Grebe giving us another good annual record. This was followed by Mike Inskip who flushed a Tawny Owl from the plantation.

On Wednesday, Common Whitethroat (P Hands) & Grey Partridge (M Clarke) were added to the year list. A flock of 20 Siskin (Ed Betteridge) were picked up at Hillers and a Ringed Plover (P Hands) was on the A46 flash.

Thursday started a run of twelve days off work for myself and the first morning resulted in a Willow Warbler singing on the railway line. This increased to three on Sunday. We now have at least 5 Little Ringed Plovers around the site, it's interesting to see how they have adapted quickly to some of the new habitats created as part of the restoration.

Our first Common Sandpiper arrived on Friday morning and this increased to two on Sunday. A female Pochard was on the main pit also on Thursday, Sand Martins continued to trickle through despite the conditions.

On Sunday, myself and Jon wrapped up a good week when we found a singing Corn Bunting (undisclosed location) which was another first of the year followed by a Yellow Wagtail going over late in the morning. Other birds recorded were 19 Shoveler, 2 Swallow, a House Martin, Peregrine, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Red Kite, 6 Raven and first summer Yellow-legged Gull.

The site list now sits on 108 for the year.

Upton Warren Double

Resting Arctic Terns

Black-tailed Godwits

Thursday afternoon remain one of my premium times to get in a couple of extra hours of birding in. With work being so close to the M5 there are always plenty of options. I was heading to the pits until I saw news that Arctic Terns were passing through Upton Warren so I quickly flew down the M5 to find three still on the Moors Pool and showing well, feeding and then resting up.

As one of the regulars headed for home I jumped in his prime spot when three Black-tailed Godwits landed to give me an additional bonus on the visit. There were plenty of Blackcaps, Sedge & reed Warblers in good voice but sadly no Gropper.

Final Tern of year at Upton Warren

With a few days away birding coming up I started with an early morning visit to Upton Warren hoping I might catch a bit of wader movement. The only passage wader present was a single Dunlin whilst at the Flashes.

As the light improved I headed back to the sailing lake where a juvenile Arctic Tern was present for it's third day. From checking Bird Forum, Phil Andrews said the bird was the second latest and only beaten by an adult bird on the 10th October in 2014.

Tern Tuesday

Twitchers at Draycote

Yellow Wagtail

 Black Tern (Salford Priors GP)

 Black Tern (Salford Priors GP)

Turnstones & Ring Plovers

 Common Tern causing the stir

 More dodgy shots in poor light

Red-headed Smew just before dark

With a day booked off for recovery after the Scotland trip I couldn’t resist a trip over to Draycote Water first thing to see two White-winged Black Terns reported the previous evening. The views were always distant but you could watch them well through the scope flying around with 25 Black Terns & 2 Arctic Terns.

With an apparent huge Tern passage going on across the country I was keen to make sure we never missed out at the pits so I headed there directly but could only find a Turnstone, two Ringed Plover and a male Mandarin down at Abbots Salford.

In the evening I returned with Paul and we had a bumper session. First scan revealed 3 Black Terns & 6 Common Terns of which 4 took off. One of the remaining Terns had a very dark beak and we were very hopeful it could be a Rosette Tern. The light was awful making photography very difficult but I did take a few rough grainy shots that indicated it was a Common Tern with a dark beak. Strangely enough Belvide looked to have a similar bird the following morning. However the photos on Twitter were only showing the bird perched. Our bird clearly showed black on the trailing edge (broader & greyer) of underwing whilst Roseate Tern is usually all white with no trailing edge,  Arctic Tern has a narrow well defined black trailing edge.

In the final minutes of scanning a small bird landed in the north east corner of the pit, on closer inspection it was a red headed Smew ! This was my first record of the species at the site. The bird seemed very tired as it went to sleep also straight away.

North Wales - Day 2 - South Stack & plenty of Terns

 Conwy Valley

 South Stack Lighthouse

 South Stack - Land of the Choughs

Sandwich Terns

 Red Breasted Merganser

 Sandwich Tern 

Arctic Tern nest building

Cemlyn Bay Lagoon 

 Pied Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

The village in which I was staying (Rowan) had converted the local phone box into a library which had a number of local walks so given I was up at 5.30 I thought I’d try an hours walk before breakfast. After walking for about 35 minutes a Spotted Flycatcher caught me eye flicking it’s tail catching flies. A great find, most pleasing. After passing through the field I came to a old farm where I found a male and female Common Redstart. The male was clearly trying to court the female, sadly the dull light didn’t enable me to get a photograph but it would have been hard to really capture the stunning image in front of me.

After breakfast we all headed off to Anglesey in awful weather however on arrival at RSPB South Stack the skies cleared allowing fantastic views of all the seabirds including Guillemot, Razorbill, Fulmar and Great Black-backed Gulls. My Puffin search was not going to plan until one finally popped out of a burrow on the light house side of the cliffs. I also located a Rock Pipit feeding on the cliffs. The best bird at South Stack in my opinion is the fantastic Chough. The views were superb of these glossy metallic looking birds and their aerobatic flying could be seen at its best in the wind. Inside the Ellis Tower there was a camera showing the Chough youngsters on the nest. After a lovely coffee and cake we headed back through the heather where there were Stonechats and Swallows.

Cemlyn Bay is a beautiful place that is practically ruined by the power station however the wildlife is fantastic. From the moment we got out of the car Arctic & Sandwich Terns passed over our heads while on the coast line 14 Ringed Plover were keeping company with six Turstones and eight Dunlin. The Tern colony was full of action with the birds establishing territory’s ahead of the breeding season. If you have never visited I’d urge you to. When heading back to car a pair of Red-breasted Merganser came into view whilst a Little Egret fed on the edge of the lagoon by an Oystercatcher. We then had a slow drive round the rest of the island before heading towards home. A quick stop looking for Dippers was rewarded with a calling Pied Flycatcher and Grey Wagtail. A quality day out.

Northumberland Day 2 - Inner Farne

 Me on right under attack on the toilet run

 Arctic Tern

  Arctic Tern

  Arctic Tern

  Arctic Tern

 Arctic Tern

Sandwich Tern

 Sandwich Tern

You shall not pass

 Arctic Tern

Close up Sea Clown

Digiscoped feeding time

Bridled Tern

Bridled Tern

Bridled Tern in flight

 The Bridled Tern excitement became to much

Seahouses at the close of play

Farne Island location

The journey from Staple Island to Inner Farne took about thirty minutes with landing. Brian Stretch kindly text me that the Bridled Tern had been relocated during the morning but there had been no sign for a number of hours. I scanned both sides of the landing jetty without luck so we made our way on to the boardwalk which was about 1/2 mile in length. Within yards you were under attack from the Arctic Terns who had young or eggs centimetres from the walkway. You would be very brave not to wear a hat as these demons of the sky certainly made their presence felt with noise and actions. 

The walk to the toilet block is particularly high risk due to the high density of nesting birds. As you can see from my top photograph once you avoid a tern nip there is another waiting for you. It was a real life experience for sure. 

As you headed up hill the Arctics were reduced in numbers giving way to a colony of Sandwich Terns and more Puffins. Black-Headed Gulls did try and mob the Puffins that returned with food but the Puffins dived into their burrows frustrating the Gulls. At the top of the island you could have chill out from being dived bombed and we had our lunch looking out over the Puffins and sea where there was a constant flow of Gannets flying along the shore line. 

The National Trust wardens were doing a great job welcoming and guiding all the visitors. They did have their work cut out as there was a couple of misinformed photographers clearly antagonising some the Arctic Terns for photographic purposes. There were plenty of  terns to be photographed.

In terms of numbers of breeding pairs on Inner Farne, the 2010 survey indicated 280 Shag, 313 Eider, 1,278 Kittiwakes, 761 Sandwich Tern, 110 Common Tern, 1,110 Arctic Tern, 9,813 Puffins, 128 Razorbills.

I then headed back down to the jetty area on the hope the Bridled Tern may have returned. There was about 4/5 of us having a serious look for the bird and among the scanned birds I found a single Roseate Tern which was pleasing. Just when I was going to take a digiscoped image another birder shouted "Bridled Tern" and I switched camera to grab an image of the bird flying away from us. The bird then landed when I managed to get some digiscoped images and some video. This rare tern has made it's way from the Caribibean so is a genuine MEGA. It's thought it is the same bird that visited the island last year, it is thought it's only the 25th record for Britain.