Just for a change .....

As well as working my way through the Farne Island images I have been playing around with a picture of an eryngium, Miss Wilmot's Ghost, taken recently in the garden.

This is the straight shot

A monochrome version

and one which is pure serendipity.

We also visited George Smith's Garden, near York, and I found this head residing in the greenhouse.

The Head Gardener

Probably the last birds for a while

I have now worked my way to the end of my files from our Farne Islands visit.  Here are just a few more of my favourites.

Razorbill

I couldn't resist a couple of portraits of the birds on the cliff edges.  Razorbill on the left and Shag below.

Shag

I couldn't resist this one taken from the land side of the fence.

The arctic terns will nest anywhere - these are on some steps.

Just as we were about to get on the boat to return to Seahouses a Ringed Plover was spotted on the beach.


And I can't say goodbye to the Farne Islands without including my favourite picture of an Arctic Tern in flight.

More Farne Island Birds

It wasn't until we arrived on Inner Farne that we saw the Arctic Terns.  There are over 2,000 pairs nesting on the island and when we arrived it felt as if most of them were coming to greet us.

As you walk along the path Arctic Terns, with their chicks, are right beside you and the adults soon let you know, with a fierce peck on the top of your head, that they don't want you to touch their brood.

Don't go without a hat!




Once we had run the gauntlet there were other birds to see.  More puffins, other gulls (I need an ornithologist with me), guillemots, razor bills, shags and a ringed plover.













The gulls seem to find the most precarious nesting places!

More Puffins

It was interesting to see on the News yesterday evening that the population of puffins on the Farnes is up 5% from last year.  Researchers have been attaching tiny sat nav's to the birds in order to establish where they travel to find the sand eels. Initial results show the birds travel 20 miles out to sea several times a day to feed in sand eel 'hot spots'. 

 

The birds, which mate for life, stuff up to 67 sand eels in their beaks each time just to feed one chick in a burrow.  Most of the puffins which I photographed only managed to bring back a few sand eels at a time.

Farne Island Puffins

On 24th June a group of us from Stokesley Photographic Society travelled north to the Farne Islands.  We were blessed with great weather - some cloud cover so that it didn't get too hot and no rain.  We had to make a 6.45 am start but it was worth getting up early.

We visited 2 islands, Staple Island and Inner Farne, spending 2 hours on each one.

It will take ages to process all the pictures.  I've already deleted all the rubbish and unsharp pictures but that still leaves 265 from which to choose the best ones.