Counting Puffins on Farne Islands

Counting Puffins on Farne Islands

Off the coast of Northeast England you'll find the Farne Islands, a group of 15-20 islands (depending on the tide), that are home to a huge population of sea birds, who come there for 'social gatherings' and mating. On last count, the islands hosted more than 23 different species of seasbirds, as well as a thriving colony of grey seals, that come there during autumn to have their pups.  To keep an eye on the numbers, the National Trust carries out a census of the islands' population twice each decade, and this year they found almost 40,000 mating pairs of puffins on the islands, a 8 percent rise from 2008, which is great to see!

Trained rangers pull a puffin out of its little burrow on Farne Islands, located off the coast of Northern England.

Another ranger measures a tiny Artic Tern chick.

A cute artic tern performs a dive bomb on an unsuspecting ranger.

Feeding the chick.

Swooping down from the sky.

Catching some tasty sand eels for breakfast.

A puffin shakes off the rain.

After making sure they have their special identification rings, rangers release some shag chicks.

A shag protecting its youngling.

Catching another chick to put an ID ring on.

Gray seals playing in the murky underwater.

A grey bull seal comfortable in its water pool.

And now fighting for territory and of control of the females.

A grey seal mother nuzzling her newborn.

A ranger sprays a little seal baby with special pigment so it can be counted. This is the best way to estimate the real numbers of their population.

Seals lie on Brownsman Island.

The beautiful scenic view of the inner part of the Farne Islands - Inner Farne, as seen off the northern coast of England.

A Guillemot swims underwater by the Islands.