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TOM HENDRY: Everybody thinks
that they're these very cute,

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gentle birds, which, you know,
they are cute, but they really

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are feisty. They've got strong
wings, so they'll wriggle a lot.

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They dig the burrows themselves
with the sharp claws on their

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feet.

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They will kind of claw you,
which is very painful. They'll

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bite you, which is obviously
painful as well. You usually end

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up with the odd scar or cut if
you're trying to handle them,

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which is, you know, as it should
be, I suppose.

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ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: In the summer
months, a remote rocky island in

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the North Sea becomes a wildlife
spectacle when it's taken over

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by bustling colonies of
seabirds. One in particular with

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a load of colour and charisma.

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I'm Rosie Holdsworth and for
this episode,

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Northumberland-based ranger Dan
Iceton joins a Farne Islands

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ranger who's going to extreme
lengths to care for these

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unmistakable seabirds.

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Welcome to Wild Tales and the
Clowns of the Sea. The colourful

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lives of the Farne Islands'
Puffins.

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The Farne Islands are a wildlife
haven one and a half miles off

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the coast of Northumberland.
Made up of 28 islands forming

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the inner and outer farnes. On
the 10th of August 1925, the

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Farne Islands came into the care
of the National Trust, so we're

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celebrating the 100th
anniversary.

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The islands are a national
nature reserve and home to a

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breeding colony of 23 different
species of seabirds, including

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eider duck, gillimot, razorbill,
kittiwake, arctic tern and

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puffin, as well as being an
important stop-off point for a

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host of migratory birds, from
long-eared owls to blue-throats

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and ring ouzles. During the
winter, it's also home to a

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colony of grey seals who return
each year to pup.

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Dan Iceton used to be a ranger
on the Farne Islands, so it's a

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place close to his heart. He's
catching up with ranger Tom

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Hendry to find out about the
work he's been doing with the

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Farnes' seabirds, and
particularly the puffins.

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DAN ICETON: Hello Tom, how are
you doing? You alright?

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TOM HENDRY: Hello Dan, how are
you? Good to see you again.

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DAN ICETON: We're about to jump
on a boat in order to get to the

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farms, and that is your commute
to work, isn't it?

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TOM HENDRY: It is indeed. Seems
so normal really for us, but

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each day is a bit different. Say
today there'll be a little bit

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of chop on the sea. If the winds
are kind of northerly or

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easterly, we could have some
really big swell. It can be hard

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to land the boats.

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DAN ICETON: And then you were
talking about how the boats

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might not be able to land. Does
that mean that you end up stuck

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out there? Can you be stuck for
quite a while?

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TOM HENDRY: I've been stuck in
the past before. I think my

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record's about 10 days I've been
out there before.

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DAN ICETON: The boat's just
arrived, so should we jump on?

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TOM HENDRY: Indeed, let's jump
on. There we go.

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DAN ICETON: So we've just left
Seahouses Harbour in the boat

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into the North Sea, and it's
particularly choppy today. So

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what sort of wildlife would you
expect to see on this commute?

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TOM HENDRY: Well a mixture
really. We'll see some of our

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birds going back and forth, you
know, kind of gathering food to

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kind of to feed their young. So
it could be guillimots, could be

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shags, kittiwakes. A bit closer
to the island, that's when we'll

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start to see the puffins. If
you're very lucky, we do see

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dolphins every few days sort
passing through.

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The odd seal kind of bobbing its
head up as well. We do have a

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big population of seals around
the farness. This time of year,

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not so many. In recent weeks
we've had a pod of orca that

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have been visiting as well. Aye.
It's the first time around the

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islands themselves for around 30
years or something.

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DAN ICETON: So a really, really
big deal seeing them.

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TOM HENDRY: A deal seeing them
again, yes.

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DAN ICETON: Yeah, so how was it
seeing the orca? I mean, like,

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what was that like?

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TOM HENDRY: Oh, I mean, it was
really exciting. I mean, I've

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never seen any orca before, so I
was just thrilled to see them.

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I've been to the islands since
2016 and you hear all the old

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stories from the 80s and before
about orca you used to be orca

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around. So you always just think
oh yeah it'll never happen and

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then you see those massive fins
you know, finally, everyone

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getting sighted. Yeah, something
else really. Amazing.

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ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Hoping to be
one of the lucky few to spot an

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orca close to the Farne Islands,
Dan and Tom scan the horizon for

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a glimpse of an enormous fin.

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It's not to be on this trip. But
their attention soon shifts as

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they get closer to the cliffs of
Inner Farne.

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There are a lot of seabirds
flying around. And their cry is

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growing louder. And the air is
becoming more pungent.

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DAN ICETON: So the boat's coming
in close a little cliff, we're

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gonna have a quick look at
what's going on and the first

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thing it hits you is the smell.
It is an assault on the senses

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we'll say it's that really
strong smell. It almost sits on

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the back of your throat almost
doesn't it?

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TOM HENDRY: Yeah we've had a lot
of sun recently and a fair bit

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of rain so that combination of
heat and rain just releases the

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the ammonia smell yeah. But you
do become nose blind quite

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quickly

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DAN ICETON: That's that's very
handy isn't it. So we can see

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like you see all the kittiwakes
and the guillemots and the

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razorbills as well. I mean
they're all fantastic birds

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aren't they have you had many
guillemots fledging yet? Is it

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still too early?

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TOM HENDRY: No no so we're in
full kind of guillemot fledging

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season so you can hear all the
squawks. You might be able to

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pick out the odd kind of
high-pitched cheeping.

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This would be the guillemot
chicks. They only leave the nest

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site when they're about three
weeks old only, about half the

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size of the adult. They can't
even fly. The dad will lead them

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off the cliff, so they'll jump
off the ledge into the water,

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and that's them out at sea for
the rest, well, for the whole

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winter.

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ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: The boat docks
at the Inner Farne jetty, and

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Dan and Tom walk up the rocks
onto the island hoping to spot

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some puffins or one of their
chicks known as pufflings. Tom

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then notices something fluffy
and cute in the water.

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TOM HENDRY: Right so we just got
off the boat on the jetty. I've

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actually just spotted a puffling
in the water there.

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DAN ICETON: Oh what a great
spot.

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TOM HENDRY: So they'll actually
be one of our actually possibly

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our very first puffin that we've
seen actually fledged from the

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burrow of its own accord. So the
parents will leave leave it to

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itself under cover of darkness
it typically it'll leave the

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burrow, make its way down
through the vegetation and out

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to sea. And that's it now. For
the next two years of its life,

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it'll just be on the water the
whole time.

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DAN ICETON: Can we go have a
look up at the puffin burrows?

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See if we can see any more
puffins knocking about maybies?

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TOM HENDRY: Yeah, let's take a
look.

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ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: To get to the
puffin burrows in the centre of

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the island, Dan and Tom first
have to pass through the Arctic

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terns' nesting site. Visitors
are advised to wear a protective

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hat for what's about to happen.

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DAN ICETON: Walking up we can
hear the Arctic turns as we go

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can't we?

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TOM HENDRY: Yeah so the first
zone it seems to be is the

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Arctic turn zone. Which tend to
like nesting around our

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buildings and our kind of
infrastructure weirdly. So this

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means that we will be running
the gauntlet in a way. They do

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like to quite vigorously defend
their young by attacking us,

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dive bombing us.

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DAN ICETON: That's the start of
them sort of fluttering up and

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they're really chattering.

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Above our heads and the odd ones
dive bomb and luckily I haven't

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been pecked yet. Yeah it's a
it's a call isn't it that really

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sort of chattering call that
they like to do

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TOM HENDRY: That's right yeah.
And you can probably see there's

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chicks of different sizes. Here
we go

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DAN ICETON: Oh there we go
there's the first peck. It's not

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too bad through the hat is it
but you definitely know they've

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been

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TOM HENDRY: I mean i wear quite
a thick hat so in my experience

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they always manage to get the
hole or the weak point.

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God it's good to be back.

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ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: As Dan and Tom
reach the puffin burrows they

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can see the little black and
white seabirds with their

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colourful bills and legs
scuttling around and flying

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past. Inner Farne is a perfect
habitat for the puffins to

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create their underground homes
with only the entrances visible

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at the surface.

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DAN ICETON: So walking more
towards the puffin burrows and a

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lot of them have just flown out
to sea kind of flying straight

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in front of it really they
almost seem quite clumsy flyers

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compared to the other birds but
they move at quite a pace don't

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they?

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TOM HENDRY: They do. Very fast
wing beats

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DAN ICETON: They're not a
massive they're just looking at

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some here and they're what 15
centimetres tall. But the beak

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on them it's a big beacon like
it's that bright orange with

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like the the bands of colour on
them.

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And yes, so the beak's here for
the summer, and then they lose

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the beak don't they? So they do
lose that characteristic trait.

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TOM HENDRY: They do. yeah, it's
like a sheath that comes off,

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like the coloured sheath comes
off and they've got a much

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darker bill for the winter
plumage. It's almost like

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they've got their party clothes
on for the breeding season, you

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know, for the partners to
attract each other, show that

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they're in prime physical shape
for breeding.

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And then once that happens, it's
into the comfies after that. And

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then, you know, some more
subdued plumage. So puffin, it's

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in the auk family. I mean, you
might say it's like the northern

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equivalent of the penguin in
many ways. I mean, they're not

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related at all, but there are
certain characteristics, you

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know.

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There's a lot of black on them.
They kind of stand upright. They

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all just lay one egg as well.
They lay one egg a year. But

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puffin's the only one which
burrows underground. There's

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quite, there aren't many birds
in Britain that do actually dig

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their own burrows and nest
underground. So I think that

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fact alone is quite...

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Makes them quite amazing birds
what's quite typical of puffins

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and many seabirds is that they
are quite monogamous so they're

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kind of loyal to their partners
they'll take it in turns you

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know to incubate the egg and to
kind of feed the chick. So

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unlike say you know many of the
duck species you know the the

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males are quite hands-on or
beaks on parents if you like and

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with a long lifespan which a
typical lifespan is about 15

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years, but the record is over 30
years old for puffin as well.

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With a good, reliable partner, a
good location, because they'll

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come back to the same burrow
each year, the hope is that

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they'll get plenty of chicks
away in their lifetime.

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They've got that advantage of
being underground, adds so much

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more protection in terms of
predators. Puffin chicks, they

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can be taken by some of the
large gull species, such as

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herring gulls. And in fact, the
biggest predator we have here,

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well, avian predator, the great
black-backed gull, they can also

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sort of take and kill an adult
puffin as well.

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DAN ICETON: And then round here,
well, they're known as many

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different sort of names, aren't
they?

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TOM HENDRY: They do, they do.
There's obviously clowns of the

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sea and sea parrots are quite
common ones although here as

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well The local Northumberlands
call them Tommynoddies, which is

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a great one.

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DAN ICETON: Just looking over
the island and this whole area,

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it's almost pockmarked with
burrows and the puffins are kind

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of just wandering about quite
happily.

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TOM HENDRY: This is like the
prime habitat for them really.

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It's the maritime meadow with a
nice mix of sea campion, orich

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and scurvy grass as well.
Campion in particular, you know.

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Roots that bind the soil
together because as you can see

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this many burrows you know it's
a bit of a honeycomb situation

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going on underground so you need
some robust soil.

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DAN ICETON: So how many how many
burrows are there?

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TOM HENDRY: So on this island,
Inner Farne, we'll have over

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15000 pairs of puffins.

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ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: A puffin
census takes place every year to

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keep a check on the colony.
Monitoring all the seabirds is

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vital, particularly since the
bird flu outbreaks of 2022 and

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2023. For the puffins, a sample
of burrows is taken and

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replicated across the island.

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They're assessed for occupation,
checking for signs of digging

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and droppings. Sometimes the
rangers put their hands inside

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the burrows looking for puffins
and eggs. To gauge adult puffin

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survival rates, coloured rings
with three-digit codes are also

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used. These are easy to spot and
help track the birds as they

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return to the island.

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Tom's licensed to ring the
puffins and has an adult bird

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that he needs to do. The first
part of the job is to get the

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puffin out of its burrow.

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TOM HENDRY: I'm going to try to
catch an adult bird to ring it

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and then colouring it.

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DAN ICETON: Tom's just putting
his arm into the puffin burrow.

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Oh looks like we've got
something.

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TOM HENDRY: We do have
something. It was fine to me.

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DAN ICETON: So while you're
doing that what does it feel

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like?

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TOM HENDRY: Quite wriggly

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DAN ICETON: The length of the
burrow is such that it's almost

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full arm length. And this is
then the issue of trying to

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trying to get these birds
because they can't just scoot

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right into the back of the
burrow. Tom is just pulling the

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bird out it's still trying to
get away you can see there's a

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lot of movement flatness wings a
lot.

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TOM HENDRY: Here we go. So
that's an adult puffin.

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DAN ICETON: Tom's holding the
bird there.

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TOM HENDRY: So I've got a bit of
a grip around its firm part of

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its top of its head there. The
claws there are very sharp, as

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you can see. And they are kind
of digging in to me slightly

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there.

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DAN ICETON: Yeah they're digging
in.

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TOM HENDRY: I'll use this ring
here. I'm gonna pop it on the

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right leg.

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DAN ICETON: So Tom's just using
the the ring and pliers there.

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So we're putting the metal ring
on this one. Requires quite a

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lot of concentration because
obviously the puffin's not too

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keen on just holding its leg out
for you is it it doesn't want to

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play ball.

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TOM HENDRY: It's not no. Okay so
now we'll before we let it go

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we'll just do a couple of
measurements. So we'll we'll do

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the wing length so for this
we'll just place so this is so i

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have one five four for the wing.
Now this is the tricky bit OK,

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would you be okay Dan to help me
measure the the build depth? So

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what i'll do i'm going to secure
the beak shut and it'll probably

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bite me in the process so it's
all fine.

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DAN ICETON: Good luck there we
go

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TOM HENDRY: Yeah oh that hurt

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DAN ICETON: It's got a sharp
beak

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TOM HENDRY: So I'd just shut
like that. As far as you can,

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yeah, just like the top bit
there.

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DAN ICETON: 27.

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ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: With the ring
in place and the measurements

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taken, there's just the puffin's
weight to check. The easiest way

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to do this is by placing the
puffin in a small plastic

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measuring jug and putting this
on the scales. It's a quick

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method and doesn't harm the
puffin.

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TOM HENDRY: Thank you. And the
last thing we'll do...

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DAN ICETON: Is this where the
puffin jug comes in?

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TOM HENDRY: This is where the
puffin jug comes in. So I'll

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just put the head first in, just
for a moment.

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DAN ICETON: So head first in,
obviously, just to try and stop

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00:16:31,226 --> 00:16:33,228
it flying away. 2, 8, 1.

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TOM HENDRY: 2, 8, 1?

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DAN ICETON: Yeah.

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TOM HENDRY: Great, and that's
it.

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DAN ICETON: And has gone
straight back in? Yeah. Happy as

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anything. How's your fingers?

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TOM HENDRY: Fine. Fine.

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DAN ICETON: I think you see
you're covered in scars anyways,

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aren't you?

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TOM HENDRY: Yeah, two more for
the collection.

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DAN ICETON: It's a dangerous
job.

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ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: The rangers
are following a long tradition

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of past wardens and watchers on
the Farne Islands, keeping an

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eye on the seabirds and their
numbers. The monitoring

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information is given to
organisations like the British

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00:17:02,001 --> 00:17:05,081
Trust For Ornithology and
contributes to the national

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picture of seabird health.

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It's also used by the rangers to
get insights into some of the

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issues that the birds might face
on the Farne Islands and helps

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them plan for managing these in
future years.

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TOM HENDRY: In terms of puffins,
the most important thing is to

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maintain the habitat as much as
possible.

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This is trying to prevent some
of the erosion that might happen

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00:17:30,546 --> 00:17:33,531
because seals for example on the
outer group they can cause a bit

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00:17:33,532 --> 00:17:35,691
of damage to the soil erosion as
well which might affect the

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00:17:35,692 --> 00:17:38,976
puffin burrows. So on Inner
Farne we just want to try and

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prevent them from coming up top
too high.

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Puffins like all seabirds you
know they they will be affected

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00:17:45,788 --> 00:17:50,007
by increasingly poor weather and
climate change as well some of

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00:17:50,008 --> 00:17:52,367
the work that we're doing is
giving it all give them a

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00:17:52,382 --> 00:17:56,038
fighting chance. All that we
want to do is keep a close eye

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00:17:56,039 --> 00:17:59,273
on the species and do all we
can. To ensure that they'll be

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00:17:59,292 --> 00:18:01,752
here and thriving in another 100
years time.

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DAN ICETON: It's been a real
pleasure being back on the Farne

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Islands. I hadn't quite realised
how much I'd missed the place

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00:18:12,098 --> 00:18:15,496
until we came back on. But it's
just been lovely seeing all the

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00:18:15,512 --> 00:18:19,309
birds and seeing the puffins.
They're such a charismatic

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00:18:19,574 --> 00:18:24,824
animal. But what's really nice
is just sort of hearing that

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00:18:24,903 --> 00:18:25,731
good news story.

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00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:29,421
The population is stable. They
are still here and they are

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00:18:29,461 --> 00:18:33,103
doing well, which is what we
want to hear going forward. This

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00:18:33,201 --> 00:18:36,963
is such a difficult environment
to work on. There's a lot of

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00:18:36,986 --> 00:18:40,666
challenges working here. You get
pooed on, you get pecked, and

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00:18:40,667 --> 00:18:42,361
that's just part of your normal
day job.

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But it is really such a
privilege to experience the

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00:18:48,026 --> 00:18:51,088
habitat and lives of these
amazing birds. And that is going

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00:18:51,089 --> 00:18:51,947
to stay with me forever.

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00:19:06,114 --> 00:19:07,880
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Thanks for
listening to this episode of

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00:19:07,896 --> 00:19:11,786
Wild Tales. If you liked it why
not give us a like or a follow

334
00:19:12,411 --> 00:19:15,427
we'll be back soon with another
episode in a couple of weeks.

335
00:19:15,427 --> 00:19:17,989
But if you can't wait that long
why not check out our other

336
00:19:18,036 --> 00:19:21,927
nature podcast Nature Fix. Or if
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337
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next time