My Farnes Bird List

Below is a list of all of the bird species that I have seen whilst I was on the Farnes. This way people can just look at the list, rather than asking me all the time! In total, I saw 69 different species, 51 of which I saw for the first time, and 24 of which breed on the islands (if I’ve remembered correctly!).
B = Breeds on the islands
* = the first time I saw that species was on the islands

Shelduck B
Mallard B
Teal
Eider B *
Red-breasted Merganser B *
Fulmar B *
Sooty Shearwater *
Manx Shearwater *
Storm Petrel *
Cormorant B
Shag B *
Gannet *
Grey Heron
Black Kite *
White-tailed Eagle *
Sparrowhawk
Water Rail *
Oystercatcher B
Ringed Plover B
Golden Plover *
Dunlin *
Knot *
Purple Sandpiper *
Snipe * (one flew over whilst ringing in Birmingham, but it was 6am in the winter so I didn’t see it properly)
Turnstone *
Whimbrel *
Curlew *
Redshank *
Green Sandpiper *
Wood Sandpiper *
Arctic Skua *
Great Skua *
Little Gull *
Black-headed Gull B
Herring Gull B
Lesser Black-backed Gull B
Great Black-backed Gull B
Kittiwake B *
Sandwich Tern B *
Roseate Tern *
Common Tern B *
Arctic Tern B *
Little Tern *
Guillemot B *
Razorbill B *
Puffin B *
Feral Pigeon B
Turtle Dove *
Long-eared Owl *
Swift
Swallow B
Pied Wagtail B
Ashy-headed Wagtail *
Tree Pipit *
Meadow Pipit *
Rock Pipit B *
Robin
Whinchat *
Thrush Nightingale *
Wheatear *
Icterine Warbler *
Melodious Warbler *
Barred Warbler *
Whitethroat *
Garden Warbler *
Willow Warbler *
Wood Warbler *
Pied Flycatcher *
Starling

Return to the Real World

So that’s it now, I have returned to the real world, where it is not acceptable to walk around in clothes covered in bird poo/paint/glue/lots of dirt, with bird poo in your very greasy unwashed hair, smelling of birds and poo and fish, and just generally looking like a dirty tramp. Now I go back to regular showers, central heating, poo-free, paint-free, smell-free, regularly washed clothes! But I don’t want to!! I want to stay on the Farnes! Despite the fact that it makes me an actual tramp! But alas, I cannot afford it. I need to find some paid work or this trip to Mauritius is likely to bankrupt me. But all is good; I have more money than I originally thought, so I have a bit of time to find a nice job to do for when I come back from my holiday. Until then, looks like I’m going to have to go back to horribly boring office work, spending my time daydreaming about the Farnes…

But I have promised to go back in November to look at the cute little fluffy little awesome little cute seal pups! Which I’m already looking forward to! And hopefully I’ll be able to come back next year for the full 6 months, which would be awesome! But until then, Hemel it is! I’ll miss everybody on the Farnes very much L but hopefully I will get to meet up with lots of them! I’ve started making plans with some of them already (you know who you are) and I expect these plans to happen!! And I’m still waiting for my wellies from Steely! I will not forget!!! I will try to keep birding (coz I’ve really enjoyed it) and I may even have a look at some butterflies (coz they are kinda pretty, despite being evil). I really enjoyed my little beach party bbq thing and I hope all the guys did too! I will miss everyone and island life and the birds lots and lots and lots!

In other news, we've had a juvenile White-tailed Eagle on the Farnes for the past few days, which is awesome! He's so massive! He's one that's been released from up in Scotland, so he's got big yellow tags on his wings and a radio tracker and stuff, so not entirely wild unfortuntely, but still awesome! There was also a leucistic (albino) Shag found on Brownsman, which was pretty mental! But it didn't hang around for long unfortunately. For awesome photos and lots of info on all the birds seen on the islands, and for details on the general everyday life of the wardens, check out the Farne Islands official blog at http://farnephoto.blogspot.com/

Hope everyone enjoys their time left on the islands! xx