Once a place of pilgrimage for medieval
monks, the Farne Islands are now a cherished destination for nature lovers from across the globe.
Birds - the breeding season
The cliffs, stacks and grassy tops of this rocky group of islands come alive with sea birds between April and early August. Around 20 different species, as many as 100,000 birds in total, make their home here during the breeding season every year.
© National Trust / Jerry Gilham
Here are some of the sea birds you are most likely to find on a visit to the Farne Islands...
| Arctic, Common and Sandwich tern |
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Mostly found on Inner Farne. Each species has a favourite bit of the island where it chooses to nest - the Arctic terns prefer the grassy banks, paths and courtyard around St Cuthbert's Chapel and the info centre. |
Bring a hat to avoid getting pecked on the head by parents defending their eggs and young chicks. |
| See them on Inner Farne and Staple Island. Puffin are the most numerous breeding seabird on the Farnes. They use sharp claws to dig burrows in the soil where they lay their eggs. |
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You'll often spot adults ducking underground with a mouth full of sand eels to feed their chicks. |
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See them on Inner Farne and Staple Island. Like puffin, these are members of the Auk family of seabirds. They nest in massive colonies on the rocky cliff tops. |
Guillemots are the more slender of the two. Razorbills are slightly smaller with a white-striped stocky bill. |
| See them on Inner Farne. Unlike most duck, they live almost exclusively at the coast and have made their home on the Farnes since St Cuthbert's time, when he is said to have befriended and protected them. |
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These are the UK's fastest flying ducks, they're also the biggest and waddle around clumsily on land. |
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See them on Inner Farne. Like guillemot and razorbill, shag nest on rocky cliff tops. They forage for grasses, seaweed and anything else they can grab, to construct large nests, which they guard noisily throughout the summer. |
Often confused with cormorant, shag are smaller, with green-tinted feathers and a tuft on their head in spring. |
| Oystercatcher and ringed plover are the only two wader birds who breed on the islands. Unlike many of the seabirds, who migrate or live in the North Sea after raising their chicks, they can be found here all year round. |
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Look out for the oystercatcher's bright orange eye, beak and legs standing out from the seaweed on the rocky shoreline. |
Other birds you might catch a sight of on the islands or on your boat trip from Seahouses:
- Kittiwake
Nest on tiny ledges on cliff faces.
- Fulmar
Nest on isolated cliff tops
- Greater and lesser black-backed gull
- Rock pipit
Nest around the lighthouse on Inner Farne.
- Ringed plover
Nest on the beach on Inner Farne.
- Cormorant
Nest on some of the smaller, rocky islands.
- Gannet
Nest on Bass Rock off the Scottish coast but come south in search of food.
- Turnstone
Nest hundreds of miles to the north but alongside
Birds - spring and autumn migrants
Inner Farne
Inner Island, a comparatively grassy island, is the nesting site for the majority of the four species of tern that breed on the Farne Islands during May and July. Their graceful aerial dives and wheels are an unforgettable spectacle, as are the dive bombing attacks of Arctic terns as they defend their nests against unwary visitors.
Sandwich terns and Arctic terns nest on the Farnes in their thousands. Despite their name, common terns are fewer in number, with only one or two hundred nesting. And rarest of all is the roseate tern, with just a solitary pair nesting in 2005.
© NTPL / Joe Cornish
Plants
The Farne Islands are also the habitat for some interesting and unusual plants. Several of the islands are covered with a layer of light peat, where most of the islands' vegetation is found. One particular species, a type of borage, is only found here in the whole of Britain. Its seeds are thought to have found their way on to the islands in chicken feed, brought over by lighthouse keepers.
Look out for:
- borage
- sea campion with its white flowers in summer
- thrift flowering from April to August
- scurvy grass flowering from May to August
- silverweed flowering from May to September
- sorrel flowering from May to July
© National Trust / Richard Allen
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