120626 Skottland-Scotland , day 3 Tuesday Farne Islands

  NF Waters 33   Nature Notes  Our World Tuesday  Outdoor Wednesday

Click to enlarge All photos
NF Photo 120626 Farne Islands

120626 Tuesday, day 3

Woke up at 6 at first but was able to sleep another 45 min. Went up at 7.30 and the sun was up and shining nicely.  I took a quick walk down to the marina to check out the locations.  

Breakfast was served in the diningroom and was a buffé. I like that. One can get what you like when you want it and don´t have to wait to order. Many hours are spent in hotels just waiting. Waiting to order, waiting to get what you ordered. Then wait again for the next order. Starters, main meal and desert.

Today we spent all day at Farne Isles.

Can I go with you?

We gathered at 9.10 to get to the boat. But one of us were missing so there was some trouble. Ola had to stay behind to see what had happened. A friend to Ola was acompaning us and took care of us to the islands. A lot of people were going. We were shown some seals before going to the first island, Staple Island. Ola and the lost member of our group arrived with the next boat 30 min later so everything ended up well.

Puffins - Lunnefågel

Going uphill on the first island was exciting. So many birds impossible to count them.  Puffins (lunnefåglar) and  Common Guillemots (sillgrisslor) for starters. Amazing. There was also other birds. Like Black-legged Kittiwake (tretåig mås), so sweet looking, Razorbills (Tordmule) was a few too. A lovely bird. Then Northern Fulmars (stormfågel) and other gulls. Krag (toppskarv) was also in abundance. With chicks in different sizes. The area was rough and a bit hard to walk with  cracks And covered with yellow lichen everywhere. I was talking to one of the guardians and he showed me one of the Fulmars laying on egg. I got some great shots of it.

One thing I noticed. The rock was almost clean from bird droppings. Only the sides of the cliffs were lined with white droppings. It seems like the birds living on rocks like this kept the rock clean. Or they would all be full of shit.

For a short while I sat down to eat somethign from the lunch box we recieved and just enjoyed being there. All to soon the visit was over and we had to go back to the boat.

Now we took a tour around some smaller islands and headed to Inner Farne.



Attacked by an Arctic Tern

Going up the path was a bit hazardous. The Arctic Terns were aggressive. They attacked people when they came to close to the chicks or eggs. And they were everywhere. They came flying and banged into peoples heads. Or sat down on the head screeming their angry sound. Some klappering with the beak did the trick. But everybody was warned and new what was to expect so nobody got hurt. Birds or people. People could also rent a plastic hat to protect themselves. Looked quite funny but worked well. :)

Arctic Tern

Walking uphill I had backlight against a lot of Terns flying around. So it took me a long time just to shoot them. They are so beautiful in backlight. You really had to watch where you put your feet because there was chicks everywhere. Luckily the nests was marked to protect them. But chicks don´t always stay where they are supposed to. :)

.


The Puffins made their nests in holes in the ground. In one area the ground was full of holes. If you stayed a while just waiting it did not take long before a Puffin came landing with the beak full of fish. Checking the closest area and then sneak down into one of the holes. Only to appear a moment later without the fish.

Inner Farne

Nice weather the whole day. It was only the last 30 min that the sun dissappeared. And it was getting windy. The boats was supposed to pick us up at four when the tide was right. We were picked up 16.30 and now it started to get windy so the trip back turned out to be rather bumpy. The boats crowded with people. No safety wests or anything so it was a bit scary.  But we got to the harbour safe and sound and we were back at the hotel around 17.00

We were extremly lucky this day as they said they had to cancel 60% of all trips due to bad weather conditions. So the company was quite happy as well I guess.

Farne Islands NF Photo 120626

At 18,30 some of us were getting together at the Pub on the other side of the street. I wanted to test the wisky The Famos Grouse. It was actually quite good. Then it was dinner at 19.00. I took the same childrens menue as yesterday but had some beer to it.

After that I asked if there was some plug adapter I could borrow for the computer. The first one did not work, but then they had one for shavers so I borrowed that one. And it worked so I could charge the computer. Upload my photos and write a bit. Had to be in the restaurant to access internet. Took a shower and packed as we are leaving tomorrow.

Not many species today maybe, bot certainly lots and lots of birds.

Hotel Bamburgh Castle Inn, Seahouses http://www.bamburghcastlehotel.co.uk/

Svensk dagbok

Mer om Skottland på NF Photo Fågelarter

More about Scotland on NF Photo Bird species
Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, vacation, Sverige, Sweden, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding, Skottland, Scotland Bamburgh Castle Inn, Farne Isles, Seahouses,Staple Island, lunnefågel, sillgrissla, Inner Farne, Arctic Tern, Silvertärna, birding, fågelskådning,