The Farne Isles

The Farne Isles

Last week I spent the week in Northumberland with Matt Clarke and David Schenck. Whilst there, we spent two days on the Farne Isles, going on the all day trip which takes you to Staple Island in the morning, and Inner Farne in the afternoon. You get about two hours on each island, so it gives you a reasonable amount of time to photograph the Puffins, Guillemots, Razorbills, Fulmars, Kittywakes and Arctic Terns. All images taken with the Canon 7D Mark II , using either the Canon 100-400 Mark II lens or the 17-40 Wide Angle lens.

Classic shot that everyone does of a Puffin on rock with a beak full of sand eels.

Puffin in flight, coming straight at me

Head shot of Puffin with a full beak of sand eels

Puffin coming in to land

Wing Stretch

Another wing stretch

Kittywake and chick

Kittywake in flight.

Razorbill

Staple Island

Shag

Shag in flight

Shag preening

These two seemed to be displaying to each other

Mating

Feeding young

Fulmar

Fulmar

Fulmars displaying

Guillemot in flight

Bridled Guillemot

Guillemot chick

Herring Gull with Guillemott chick

Arctic Tern

Arctic Tern in flight

Arctic Tern chick.

Arctic Tern chick

Adult Arctic tern and chick sheltering from the rain

Arctic tern in flight

Arctic tern in flight

Arctic Tern in flight - Wide Angle lens as it dive bombs me

The Terns come very close ! Photo courtesy of Matt !

When it rains it is very important that the adults shelter the chicks. On this shot you can see the water droplets on the adults back

When the Puffins come back to feed their young, they are often ambushed by Herring Gulls, Back Headed Gulls and Black Backed Gulls which lie in wait .

Puffin burrows

Adult Puffin sitting on eggs in burrow

Puffin in flight

When you land on Staple Island, the Puffins are sitting there waiting to be photographed !

When you go on Inner Farne, the terns will attack you, so make sure you take a wide brimmed hat to stop them drawing blood with their sharp beaks. Unfortunately, the hat does not stop them dropping `bombs` on you ! Photo courtesy of David