Little Auk

We had a few bits of wind over the last few weeks and when loads of the birders were doing sea watches along the coast a good few reports were coming in about Little Auks. I just love these tiny little seabirds and I was praying we would see some when we eventually got back out on the water.

A few days had past and no luck even though we were seeing other seabirds around I was still hoping to see this lovely auk.

The Little Auk is part of the auk family and breeds on islands in the high arctic in places like Little Diomede Island in the Bering Strait but only in small numbers. It also breeds on small islands in the Bering Sea.
This is the only Atlantic auk of its size and its about half the size of the Puffin at 19-21cm in length, with a 34-38cm wingspan. Its not until you see them close up then you realise how small they are. I do love these auks with their very stubby bill and little white mark beside their eyes. When they fly past the boat they go like a bullet. Not that I have seen a bullet in real life before but that's what it feels like to me.

Like the Puffin they lay only one egg and instead of a burrow its on a cliff edge but with an overhang so they get a little bit of shelter. They move south in the winter and this is when they tend to come to our area and forgive me if I'm wrong but I think the Farnes has the British record of passage in one day of 25,000. Now that would have been a wonderful site to see, as I'm happy with one but could you imagine that many. Amazing really.

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HMS Ascot

On remembrance day I was asked by a friend if I could take a few family members out to the shipwreck HMS Ascot so they could pay their respects.

It was a really easy answer and it was the least I could do for all those who fought in the war and what a better way to remember all the people who died in the war to look after our country.

HMS Ascot was the last boat to be sunk during WW1 and it was the day before the Armistice was signed. She was torpedoed by a German submarine, UB-67 off the coast of Seahouses about 6 miles away.
Fifty Three servicemen tragically lost their lives in the sinking of the minesweeper vessel. Despite the best efforts of the Seahouses and Holy Island Lifeboats, no survivors were found.  

One crew member John Matthew Postlethwaite of Liverpool (below) was one of those to lose their lives. The able seaman's descendants returned to Seahouses to mark the centenary of the sinking on Saturday afternoon but before we went out to the ships last resting place, the Seahouses Lifeboat and all her crew had a small remembrance service outside the lifeboat station conducted by Rev Carol Fields.

It was a lovely service and Paul King, whose late wife was the granddaughter of seaman Postlethwaite read out all the names of the HMS Ascot who died on their way home. After the service was over the Seahouses Lifeboat was launched and myself, Ian Clayton, who is a spokesman for the RNLI and the family steamed out to the site where HMS Ascot was last laid to rest. Great granddaughter Wendy Thompson then left flowers above the wreck site, while Rev Carol Fields gave a heart warming pray to those who perished serving our country. 

I think as you get older you realise how brave all the men and boys were and then you think how lucky we are today and this is one of the main reason's I tell my kids to respect their elders as if it was not for them we might not have been here today. I also would like to thank those who worked hard back at home, which was mainly the women as they did a great job and sometimes they tend to be forgotten during this dreadful time.

When I got home that night I put on a film that might have been a bit to much for my 6 and 12 year old but I thought they needed to see how bad it was and how lucky they are today. Yes, they know about it and they went to the service to learn a bit more but sometimes a film with the hard truth works a little bit better and when you have to keep on pausing the film because they are asking questions then I think it might have worked.

HMS ASCOT 

Black Guillemot and friends

Myself and Chris spotted our first Black Guillemot of the season a few weeks ago, which was really nice for me but Chris was well chuffed as it was the first one for him ever. Chris joined us this year for the first time and even though he knows about boats he was never into his birds as much as we were, so everything he see's is his first time. Yes he's seen a good few birds before but everything is new to him and he's really enjoying it.

Andy and myself have seen a good few Black Guillemots before but on this occasion it was our first. Yes we saw two together and for the Farnes its quite unusual to get two as we tend only to get one lingering during the winter but to have two together was a special moment for us.

We also came across a small feeding frenzy so we decided to stop the boat and have a look. Well I did and you could tell by Andy's face he was thinking "what the hell has he spotted now", but he was really pleased I did as we had two Manx Shearwaters in the middle of the frenzy and they must have really full bellies as they did not budge at all so Andy got a few nice pictures. You see it was worth stopping.....





We were really enjoying the day and with some lovely guests on board it made it all the better. When we past the Inner Farne on the way home we also spotted a lovely female Peregrine falcon sitting on a kittiwakes nest enjoying the sunshine whist keeping a close eye on us and a close eye on her lunch which was not far away. Yes she is just one of the birds of prey that keep our pigeon population under control.

So over all a really good day a the office and fingers crossed many more to come.

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Hello World

During our trips on Monday there were a noticeable increase in new born seals on Brownsman, Wames and Staple Island compared to the last few days. We did not get out on Tuesday due to the weather but when we returned on Wednesday we were gob smacked as there was an explosion of pups everywhere. Guessing a few hundred were born in one day and when the National Rangers eventually got out to do their seal counts on Thursday the result was very evident, with 504 seal pups in total. What a great start to the season for the pups and long may it last.

We have also witnessed a new born which was incredible and then seen the awful side of nature with 2 gulls eating a still born. I know its nature and its not nice to see, but I suppose one hand feeds the other. The blood on their bills is something out of a horror film but again we might not like it but its how other they survive. I was talking to a diver a few weeks ago and he said that he saw a still born on the seabed during one of his dives but it did not phase him at all, as he watched a sea urchin, and starfish eating the decomposing body so it was helping them to survive as well.

At first we thought she had miscarried due to the amount of blood, but as we passed again on a later trip we saw the pup and it was covers in blood too.

We also watched a mother feed two seal pups. Our first thought was that the born mother must be dead, but as we watched it longer and longer we realised that this was not the case. The mother was feeding her own child but was then hitting the other pup to tell it to go away. She then turned over in such a manner that her own pup got some milk but the other pup got none. Again cruel but the pups mother would not be to far away.

We have also seen the very cute side too with some pups enjoying a little sleep in the sunshine. I swear the last seal pup picture was dreaming about something nice as it cuddles into the stone by the little grin on its face.

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