The divers had a wonderful time over the weekend. The seals are very playful at the moment. We also have 4 seals pups now, and I will keep on counting them, but I will have to rely on the Wardens for counts later as there are far to many for me to count.

Here are some pictures of the seals on Friday playing with the divers.

Seals playing with the divers surface marker buoy.

The divers send this surface marker buoy to the top of the water when they are about to come up. It also tells other boat that they are below, but the seals lover to play with them.

A Seal playing with the marker buoy.

A Seal playing with the divers fins when she got to the surface.

Smiling from ear to ear.

SEAL of approval

I had some divers out at The Farne Islands last year and they said it was just fantastic playing with the seals, but it was not until they gave me a DVD of what they filmed last year that I realized what they were talking about. I  here lots of stories about divers with the seals and I just take it for granted until I saw this DVD. After watching it a few times I thought I would let you all enjoy it to. Sorry but I had to make it a bit shorter to be able to upload it

Black Tern

We had a lovely Black Tern on Friday and I missed seeing it during the summer so I was pleased to get a chance to see it. We noticed a group of birds feeding just south of the Inner Farne and it was not until we got there that we seen a tern flying around.

Great end to September

It has been a beautiful week around the Farne Islands and Seahouses this week. The sun has shone all week,the sea's have been calm and the birds have been good.

On Monday we saw our first female Long-tailed Duck on the north side of Big Harcar. We also saw 5 Arctic Skua's flying north throughout the day.

On Tuesday our first Grey Seal Pup was born on the pebble beach at South Whames, and an adult wintering Puffin. 

On Wednesday the day started with a beautiful Sunrise, then after that we saw 3 Harbour Porpoise, 2 Arctic Skua's, 1 Puffling 1 male Peregrine, 1 female Peregrine and lots of Guillemots. 

On Thursday the weather got hotter and hotter as the day went on. On the land it had been really good but it's not very often we can say that it gets that hot out at sea, but the temperature was 21c in my wheelhouse and the wind was really warm to. The bird front was a bit hot to. We had 5 Arctic Skua's flying north, 2 Bonxie's flying north, 2 Great Northern Divers, 1 flying north the other south, 1 Manx Shearwater resting on the water just south of the Inner Farne, 2 pods of Harbour Porpoise, 3 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. When we were heading home I got a phone call to say that there was 2 Ross's Geese at the pond on the way to Bamburgh. You have never seen the boat tied up so quick. I was lucky as they were still there but I was short lived as I was summoned home. I was also told there was a Crane at Budle Bay but I was not so lucky with that one. Oh well you can't win them all.   

On Friday it was hot but not as hot as previous days, but the birds made up for that. We had 3 Arctic Skua's, lots and lots of Guillemots, 16 Razorbills, 7 Manx Shearwaters, 1 Black Tern, 10 Redwings, 1 Long tailed Skua and a male Peregrine.

Ross's Goose

I got a call the yesterday on my way home from sea to tell me about a Ross's Goose on Willy Smiths Pond. A little pond beside the road towards Bamburgh. Quick as Flash Gorden I was in the van and on my way to the pond.  With my scope in one hand and my camera in the other I crossed the road and sat down in the grass beside the fence.
I have heard about the Ross's Goose but never in my wildest dreams did I think we would get one at Seahouses. Well I say one, I mean we were treated to 2.
They are very like a Snow Goose but smaller and both geese are high arctic breeders. All I can think is that it was blown over during the strong winds from Katia, but the origin of most European records of Ross's Geese are uncertain. They are certainly a potential vagrant from North America but the situation is complicated by escapes from captivity, some of which are breeding in the UK. To be honest I'm not bothered that they are escapes are they are little beauties.

A big Thank You to Alan Hornsby for giving me the phone call.

Amazing Sunrise

We had the most amazing sunrise the other morning that I had to post it. I was very lucky to as a lobster boat passed as I was taking pictures. Enjoy because I certainly did.

First Seal Pup of the year.

On Tuesday I was sitting on the boat outside the harbour waiting for the tide, when I got a phone call from David Steel telling me that we had our first seal pup of the year, so here is a few pictures.

Redshank verses Turnstone

When I finished work the other day, I was just about to get into the van when I noticed a Curlew over the pier wall. It was probing around the rock pools for some food and I noticed that it would go to any lengths to get some food.

There was also a Redshank searching for food and it was very successful until a Turnstone turned up and pinched it's prize. Turnstone 1 - Redshank 0.

Arctic Skua

On Monday we had an Arctic Skua close to the boat on the way home so here is a few pictures of it.