Huffing and Puffling

When I came down to the boat the other morning I was greeted by a Baby Puffin (Puffling) on the deck of the boat. I was gob smacked it was even there and what on earth was it doing on the boat. I know they are attracted by light and sound but the engines were off, I don't have any flood lights on the boat, so how the hell did it get there.

Before I started to ask questions I put it in the wheelhouse to keep it safe.

On the pier I saw the harbour master and asked him if the harbour office light was on last night. He said no but his assistant said that he was out for a walk and there was lots of noise coming from the harbour office area. He decided to investigate and when he arrived there was a few teenagers playing music quite load and he also noticed the flood light above the harbour office was on, so he turned it off.

Now this could the the answer I was looking for but why my boat? Why was it even on the boat to start with. To be honest I don't have a clue but they are lovely to see, so we decided to take it back out to the open sea.

As we got a bit further out from the harbour we had a look around to see if their were any gulls around and the coast was clear, so we let it go.

Boy oh boy was he happy to be away. Not even a glance back to say thank you.

 

A few day's before that we saw a seal playing with a lobster pot bouy and we just pointed it out the the guests as they do this quite a lot. 

After we had been to see the seals at the Longstone Island we noticed that the seal was totally wrapped up in rope and his head was under the water. We moved the boat close to the seal and it was drowning so we grabbed the rope and pulled the seal towards the boat. A gentleman on the boat helped me by holding the rope while I pulled the rest of the rope of its neck. After a lot growls and a few attempts to bite me it shot of but yet again not even a little look back to say thank you. 

Oh well at least he lived and that's what its all about.

   

The seal and myself were doing the huffing and puffing and the puffling was just being cute. 

Saying that the Puffling can still give a good nip but I'm glad the seal didn't bite.  

Feeding Frenzy

While our guests were on the Inner Farne the other day we were drifting on the south side of the Inner Farne enjoying the calm seas and the sun. Which makes a change. I noticed alot of gulls feeding, but as I glanced around their were lots of feeding frenzy's going on.

I decided to have a little noisy to see what all the fuss was about and with it being calm and sunny the first thing would be to take some pictures.

As I was clicking away I noticed lots of Gulls, Guillemots, Razorbills, Puffins Terns and Shags feeding on tiny tiny sand-eels. I started to take pictures of the birds with freshly caught sand-eels in their bills and then I got a bit to close and they all flew away. When they had gone I could see a black patch in the water and it was the tiny sand-eels they were feeding on, and then all of a sudden a Shag swims underneath them and bang, he had caught them by surprise and with a bill full sand-eels he broke the surface to eat them. It was just great to see and then it was the Guillemots turn.

With the camera in hand it would be a shame not to try and get a few pictures so here we go. Please they are not that good but you will see what I mean.

I suppose at the end of the day this is why the Farne Islands does so well as if there was no food for the birds they would not be here. Just aswell we have lots of sand-eels then.

Reflections

This post is all about the reflections. I was just looking through some of my pictures and noticed I had a few with reflections so I have decided to post them.  I do hope you enjoy them.

RSPB Filming

I was out Wednesday night with two guys from the RSPB filming Artic Terns feeding. I picked the guys up at 7.30pm from The Inner Farne and headed out to find Terns feeding on Sandeels but everytime we stopped they moved to a different area. Getting a little fed up we moved to another area, but yet again no luck.

Eventually we got a good spot and we turned of the engines as the noise of them was interfering with the filming and drifted with the tide while the Terns started feeding. It was a beautiful evening and the sunlight was perfect and the guys got what they came for.

It was also a perfect chance for me to snap away to and as the evening light started to disappear we headed back to the Inner Farne.

Just before I dropped the guys off, we stopped as there was a Jumpling swimming of into the sunset and it was to good to turn down. After filming for a while it disappeared onto the horizon and with smiles on our faces it was the perfect end to a perfect evening. 

   

As we set of spout of water at the end of the Inner Farne called the Churn

A Puffin feeding on the mass of Sandeels that were in the water.

A Fulmer in it's full beauty.

An Artic Tern patrolling the area for some food.

No luck this time.

Watching the Sandeels very closely.

Got it after a few attempts.

A beautiful Sunset with Jumplings swimming out to sea.