Yellow-billed Bridled Guillemot

I know I have done something like this post before but I would love to know how old this Guillemot is as it's a good few years now that I have seen it in the same place. Every year when all the Guillemots get settled I keep on scanning the same area to see if it's still in the same place and sure enough it is.

I will keep on looking every year from now on and I will probably keep blogging about it until the day I don't see it again.

Here are some pictures of this beautiful bird.

We've had it all.

Over the last few weeks things have been busy around the Farnes. We have had T.V Crews filming, Star stuck Rangers, Chicks appearing for the first time, Cliff Counts, Beautiful weather and Calm Sea's. What more could you ask for in the day to day events around the Farne Islands.

Where do I start......Well I will tell you. It has to start with the Rangers. They do love their jobs but it is hard work. Early mornings doing bird counts then helping myself and other boats coming and going, then back to more counts and much more.

This is some of the Rangers on their Zodic doing cliff counts for Razorbills and so far things look ok for them.

The Inner Farne had a TV celebrity in Elle Harrison doing her thing and talking to some of the Rangers.

Ranger Ciaran doing some interviews about the birds on the Islands. 

We have noticed Puffins still mating on the water.

But we have seen new lives looking out for the first time.

 Eider Ducks chicks are back in the harbour

 We have had great Sunset Cruises and great skies.

Beautiful light for taking pictures.

 We have seen some old knackered birds and some young ones. 

To top it all off we got our Yellow Billed Bridled Guillemot again today. 

To be honest we have been very lucky over the last 22 days as we have had some cracking weather and we have been lucky with the rain to as it's either missed us or we have had it through the night. What more can you want....Until next time

Mallard Update

Well our Mallards are doing really well. They are growing up very quickly and it will not be long before they fly the nest. So to speak.

They have become a part of the family and the kids just love them. Joan is so proud of them and really pleased with herself that they are doing well. They love meal worm and boiled eggs. When Joan comes into the garden with a plate full of mashed up eggs they fight like hell with each other to get to it.

I hope they don't think that we are an easy ride and never leave home, as Joan and myself caught them last night pecking their bills on the patio doors and cheeping really load as if to say that they are hungry. When we went outside with a bucket of meal worm they followed us until we put some on the grass for them. I just could not believe it. I thought they were supposed to be wild ducks, but at this rate they will never leave and who can blame them when they have a soft touch in Joan.

They are now in the shed and not in the house anymore thank god because they are just like human babies, as all they do is eat, sleep and sh*t. Our patio outside is just covered in the stuff and we have cleaned it loads but the second we clean it up they do it again.  They are also starting to become some sort of celebrities with our guests are they have read this blog and when they stay with us they always ask about the ducks, and the next thing is either Charlie or Archie drags them through to the garden to see them, then all I hear is Ahh aren't they cute. Yeah they might look cute but you don't have to clean their sh*t up.

To be honest we love it really and I might go on about the sh*t but they are ours and we love them.

Dinner Time

They always keep their eyes to the sky incase a gull comes down for them.

I've got an eye on you

This is them at the patio doors telling us they are hungry. 

 

Bottlenose Dolphins

We got the Bottlenose Dolphins again the other morning and they put on a little show for me. Not alot more I can say really....

Puffintastic

Since it's the year of the Puffin at the Farne Islands I have decided to show you some of my pictures I have got over the last week or so. I also noticed today that their were less Puffins on the water and more on the Islands and I did see a few Puffins with sand eels in their bills. I just hope this weather keeps up and we have a great breeding season and the weather has not done as much damage as we first thought. 

The first 3 pictures are the first time I have manged to get good flight shots.

A Puffin with a bit of green in the background and funny enough this is the rocks green and not grass.

A bit of Black on Black 

Is that Serenity 2 Eye see there. 

You have to get the fish, they will not jump out of the water into your mouth.

 Which side looks the best. Oh they are both the same. 

Serenity Sunset Cruises

We do Sunset Cruises every Tuesday and Thursday evenings and the last two were just umberliveable and for different reasons.

Our Sunset Cruise on Tuesday was the best I have ever seen. Hardly a cloud in sight, the light was perfect and the sea was like a sheet of glass. When I say this I mean it to. The only time we saw a ripple in the water was on the tide edges and the wake from my boat.

I could go on and on but I think the pictures will speak for themselves.

On Thursday I thought the clouds were going to come over and spoil the evening but they seemed to just disappear. The south side of the Islands was a little choppy but after that we went to the north side and it was much better.

After alot of clicking with the camera we were just about to head home when a guest spotted a dolphin in the water. Splash goes another dolphin. Oh yes, come on. We had 2 pods, one with 5 and the other had 6. After slowly steaming giving the guests a great show they seemed to get bored, so we went a little faster.

Now that's what they were looking for, a bit of fun. They were going from side to side. Inbertween the twin hauls and back again. I had glanced down at my phone and noticed it was nearly 10pm by it was well worth it.

I would like to say thank you to everyone who has joined me over the last few days, because if it was not for you I would not have even been out here to witness this wonderful place. Thank you