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Farne Islands

Northumberland  >  United Kingdom

The Farne Islands are one of the most exciting seabird colonies in England, with unrivalled views of seabirds, including 36,000 pairs of lunnefågel.

Tillagd* av SanderW
Senast uppdaterad 27 oktober 2024

Beskrivning

From Seahouses it is a easy visit to the Farne Islands. Everyone visiting the Farnes needs to get on a boat at Seahouses harbour. There are 28 islands, of which three are accessible; Inner Farne, Staple (May-July only), and Longstone. As well as sailing around the islands, you can also go ashore and actually walk between the birds on the islands. A great experience and paradise for photographers. There are lots of B&Bs to stay the night in Seahouses, making it easy to visit the islands early in the morning.

The best time to visit is May-June. At this time, you get great views of breeding lunnefågel, tordmule, sillgrissla, toppskarv, tretåig mås, Kentsk tärna, silvertärna, fisktärna, and ejder. One or two pairs of rosentärna can also be seen in some years.

havssula does not breed on the Farnes, but birds can frequently be seen passing by, as can more rarely species like kustlabb, mindre lira, and grålira. Other rarer seabirds have included spetsbergsgrissla, iltärna, tygeltärna, and Europe's sole record of Aleutian Tern.

Passerines are normally few, but many pairs of skärpiplärka breed, and ladusvala nests in St Cuthbert's Chapel on Inner Farne. In east winds, a wide range of vagrants from Europe and Asia have occurred, including species such as stäppsångare, guldtrast, blåhake (up to 30 at a go!), videsparv, gyllensparv, and many others.

Although spring and summer trips are the norm, occasional winter trips are held, when species to be seen at sea can include svarthakedopping, alkekung (exceptionally in tens of thousands!), tobisgrissla, svartnäbbad islom, and seaduck like sjöorre and alfågel. Large numbers of skärsnäppa and roskarl also winter on the islands.

Detaljer

Tillgänglighet

Go to Seahouses and park your car (see the P on the map) and book for one of the 4 or 5 boats in the harbour (also marked on the map). As a general rule, if you are visiting between May – July then there are sailings on the hour between 9.00 and 12.00 to Staple, while those between 13.00 and 15.00 are to Inner Farne. An all day ticket costs about £35; all day trip boats sailing May - July visit both islands but have limited capacity. An Inner Farne only ticket costs £12. Inner Farne is open all season (April-October) and Staple Island opens for the main breeding season from May-July. Both islands are subject to variable opening times dependent on the time of year, weather and other factors; in particular, visiting is not possible in strong winds. See the link below for further information.

Boats resumed landings on the Farnes in 2024 after the 2022–2023 Avian Flu epidemic, when landings were suspended and boats only sailed around the islands.

Terräng och habitat

Strand , Hav / ocean

Förhållanden

Platt , Halt , Ingen skugga , Öppet landskap , Klippigt

Rundtur

Ja

Tubkikare behövs?

Nej

Bästa säsong för skådning

Vår , Sommar

Bästa tid för ett besök

Vår , Sommar

Rutt

Bred stig , Smal stig

Hur ansträngande vandring

Genomsnittlig vandring

Nås

Till fots , Båt

Fågeltorn / plattform

Nej

Extra information

When on the islands, you are advised to wear a padded hat, to protect yourself from injury by Arctic Terns defending their nests!

Länkar

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