Puffin webcam: Watch Farne Islands seabirds live

To mark 100 years of caring for the Farne Islands, our new puffin and clifftop webcams will be streaming live as the 2025 breeding season unfolds.

The Farne Islands are home to 200,000 seabirds, including around 50,000 breeding puffin pairs, who journey back to the islands in spring to breed and raise their chicks, called pufflings.

This year, our puffin webcam is offering a burrow-side view of puffins for the first time. You'll feel part of the colony as you watch them go about their daily lives, courting, nesting and providing for their young. You can also spot other nesting seabirds on our clifftop webcam.

Watch the Farne Islands webcams

Wildlife cameras are a great way to watch birds and their behaviour in their natural environment. Why not take a look and see what you can spot? You can also continue reading for tips on what to look out for on both cameras.

What can I see on the webcams?

Puffin webcam

Look out for parading puffins and ruffled feathers as males defend their territory and puffin pairs 'billing’ – rubbing their bills together to reinforce their bonds. You may even be lucky enough to spot young pufflings towards the end of the season, when they fledge the nest. 

Clifftop webcam

The Farne Islands' clifftops are a flurry of activity and packed with birds of different species at this time of year. Spot puffins, guillemots, razorbills, shags, and various species of gull amongst the hustle and bustle of the crowds. Look out for birds coming and going to feed their young, as well as birds of prey including peregrine falcon and merlin. 

 

Wildlife on the Farne Islands 

A wildife haven off the Northumberland Coast, the Farne Islands are made up of clusters of islands forming the Inner and Outer Farne Islands. 

Together, the islands are home to an internationally significant breeding colony of 200,000 seabirds of 23 different species, including eider duck, guillemot, razorbill, Arctic tern, kittiwake and puffin. 

April to August is puffin season, when the islands come alive with the sights and sounds of one of the largest puffin breeding colonies in the UK. Puffins leave once their young have fledged, and the young pufflings will spend their next few years at sea before returning to their birthplace on the islands to breed themselves.

As summer turns to autumn, another of the islands’ famous residents take centre stage as seal pupping season gets underway. The Farne Islands are home to one of the largest grey seal colonies on the east coast of England, with around 2.5 per cent of the pups born annually in Britain being born on the islands.

Caring for the Farne Islands

Thanks to you, we've been caring for the Farne Islands for 100 years. Our dedicated staff and volunteers work all year to help keep them a special place for visitors and wildlife.

Your support helps:

• provide a year-round ranger presence on the Farne Islands – crucial for protecting and monitoring the wildlife, particularly puffins, seals, and other seabirds. 
• fund conservation work and monitoring activity such as puffin counts, bird ringing and seal tracking to help monitor trends and feed into national data on populations.
• our work to inspire people about the seabird colonies and the surrounding marine habitat through education and outreach.
• make island maintenance possible, such as boardwalk repairs and keeping the island accessible for visitors.