First Little Auk

On Saturday I was near the Longstone Island when I spotted my first Little Auk of the year.

After not seeing them for a long time you tend to forget how small the are and nippy they can be.
Everytime I pick the camera up to take a picture of it, splash it was gone, and as I looked at my pictures tonight I had loads of it rear end as it was taking a dive.

I did eventually got a picture of the little beauty and hopefully this is the first of many to come. Sorry about the pictures as the light was rubbish but then half an hour later the sun came out. Typical.

We have also had a lot of lingering Razorbills, Guillemots and a few Puffins feeding along the shoreline and around the Islands.

Today was just a stunning day and I got some nice pictures of a wintering baby Puffin, Guillemot and a Razorbill.

Bonxie (Great Skua)

On Thursday the weather was beautiful and as we were at the Longstone looking at the seals a Great Skua stopped to pinch some food from a Herring Gull. After its first bill full it decided it wanted a bit more but other gulls were not having any of it. The Great Skua has a name for itself for being aggressive but oh boy the gulls showed how they can look after themselves to. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the birds fighting as it was so quick but I did manage to get a picture of the Skua and even the seals were looking to see what the hell was going on.

We also have had lots of Waders around the rock edges and they looked beautiful in the sunlight. Here is a Purple Sandpiper in the afternoon sun.

Below is a branded Grey Seal sleeping on the rocks. This seal will appear in another blog later, as I have found more  branded seals and tagged seals this year than I ever have, so watch this space.
 

 

And some lovely Gannets passing through Staple Sound on their way back to Bass Rock.

Pale Artic Skua

We had fresh west winds the other day and as we were steaming back to the harbour we noticed a Pale-phase Artic Skua. At first it would not behave itself and pose for the camera but after a while it played the game and I good few shots of it.   Enjoy.

Mixed Trip

A few weeks ago when the weather was nice and the skies were blue we done a trip out to see some Minkie Whales, Harbour Porpoise and Seabirds. Unfortunately we did not see any Minkie Whales on the day but two days later we did.
We did of course see Porpoise, Sooty Shearwater's, Artic Skua's, Gannets and many more so here is some pictures of what we saw on the day and of course the Minkie a few days later.

Seal Day

The day started after I dropped my little girl of at school and drove down to the harbour. When I arrived at the boat a friend told me that there was a Seal on the harbour beach and could I phone someone to tell them as she was not sure if it was ok. After a closer inspection it looked ok to me and it was a young Common Seal. Now they are not so common around here and less common to be on the harbour beach so it was really nice to see.

I took a few pictures but not very many as it did not want me there. As I left the seal to be along, someone came along with their dog and frightened it away. Some people just don't care but the seal was wise, as it went around the corner and went to the other beach were it would not be disturbed.

This is the second Common Seal I have seen this year and the one I saw on the Farne Islands in early September was the first Common for many years, from what I can gather.

We left the harbour with our guests at 10.45am to see the Grey Seals around the Farnes. The numbers of seals are building day by day now and all around the north side of the Islands there were covered in seals.
We have up to 6 Grey Seal pups now and the first pup of the year was a boy and it has been named Rocky by the Farne Island Rangers.

Further around the Islands we noticed a few seals playing. At first the guests thought they were fighting but as they watched they realized it was just playful fighting.

After watching them play for a while we went around the corner and noticed a weird looking seal. This seal looked like it was rusty coloured. Now I don't know enough about seals but this might just have been pigments of the skin. If anyone knows anything about the colour or why this is, then please let me know.

One half of the seal is still wet that's why it looks a bit different.

After the day had finished and we tied the boat up, a Starling flew down to say hello. What a nice way to end the day.