TOM HENDRY: Everybody thinks that they're these very cute,
gentle birds, which, you know, they are cute, but they really
are feisty. They've got strong wings, so they'll wriggle a lot.
They dig the burrows themselves with the sharp claws on their
feet.
They will kind of claw you, which is very painful. They'll
bite you, which is obviously painful as well. You usually end
up with the odd scar or cut if you're trying to handle them,
which is, you know, as it should be, I suppose.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: In the summer months, a remote rocky island in
the North Sea becomes a wildlife spectacle when it's taken over
by bustling colonies of seabirds. One in particular with
a load of colour and charisma.
I'm Rosie Holdsworth and for this episode,
Northumberland-based ranger Dan Iceton joins a Farne Islands
ranger who's going to extreme lengths to care for these
unmistakable seabirds.
Welcome to Wild Tales and the Clowns of the Sea. The colourful
lives of the Farne Islands' Puffins.
The Farne Islands are a wildlife haven one and a half miles off
the coast of Northumberland. Made up of 28 islands forming
the inner and outer farnes. On the 10th of August 1925, the
Farne Islands came into the care of the National Trust, so we're
celebrating the 100th anniversary.
The islands are a national nature reserve and home to a
breeding colony of 23 different species of seabirds, including
eider duck, gillimot, razorbill, kittiwake, arctic tern and
puffin, as well as being an important stop-off point for a
host of migratory birds, from long-eared owls to blue-throats
and ring ouzles. During the winter, it's also home to a
colony of grey seals who return each year to pup.
Dan Iceton used to be a ranger on the Farne Islands, so it's a
place close to his heart. He's catching up with ranger Tom
Hendry to find out about the work he's been doing with the
Farnes' seabirds, and particularly the puffins.
DAN ICETON: Hello Tom, how are you doing? You alright?
TOM HENDRY: Hello Dan, how are you? Good to see you again.
DAN ICETON: We're about to jump on a boat in order to get to the
farms, and that is your commute to work, isn't it?
TOM HENDRY: It is indeed. Seems so normal really for us, but
each day is a bit different. Say today there'll be a little bit
of chop on the sea. If the winds are kind of northerly or
easterly, we could have some really big swell. It can be hard
to land the boats.
DAN ICETON: And then you were talking about how the boats
might not be able to land. Does that mean that you end up stuck
out there? Can you be stuck for quite a while?
TOM HENDRY: I've been stuck in the past before. I think my
record's about 10 days I've been out there before.
DAN ICETON: The boat's just arrived, so should we jump on?
TOM HENDRY: Indeed, let's jump on. There we go.
DAN ICETON: So we've just left Seahouses Harbour in the boat
into the North Sea, and it's particularly choppy today. So
what sort of wildlife would you expect to see on this commute?
TOM HENDRY: Well a mixture really. We'll see some of our
birds going back and forth, you know, kind of gathering food to
kind of to feed their young. So it could be guillimots, could be
shags, kittiwakes. A bit closer to the island, that's when we'll
start to see the puffins. If you're very lucky, we do see
dolphins every few days sort passing through.
The odd seal kind of bobbing its head up as well. We do have a
big population of seals around the farness. This time of year,
not so many. In recent weeks we've had a pod of orca that
have been visiting as well. Aye. It's the first time around the
islands themselves for around 30 years or something.
DAN ICETON: So a really, really big deal seeing them.
TOM HENDRY: A deal seeing them again, yes.
DAN ICETON: Yeah, so how was it seeing the orca? I mean, like,
what was that like?
TOM HENDRY: Oh, I mean, it was really exciting. I mean, I've
never seen any orca before, so I was just thrilled to see them.
I've been to the islands since 2016 and you hear all the old
stories from the 80s and before about orca you used to be orca
around. So you always just think oh yeah it'll never happen and
then you see those massive fins you know, finally, everyone
getting sighted. Yeah, something else really. Amazing.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Hoping to be one of the lucky few to spot an
orca close to the Farne Islands, Dan and Tom scan the horizon for
a glimpse of an enormous fin.
It's not to be on this trip. But their attention soon shifts as
they get closer to the cliffs of Inner Farne.
There are a lot of seabirds flying around. And their cry is
growing louder. And the air is becoming more pungent.
DAN ICETON: So the boat's coming in close a little cliff, we're
gonna have a quick look at what's going on and the first
thing it hits you is the smell. It is an assault on the senses
we'll say it's that really strong smell. It almost sits on
the back of your throat almost doesn't it?
TOM HENDRY: Yeah we've had a lot of sun recently and a fair bit
of rain so that combination of heat and rain just releases the
the ammonia smell yeah. But you do become nose blind quite
quickly
DAN ICETON: That's that's very handy isn't it. So we can see
like you see all the kittiwakes and the guillemots and the
razorbills as well. I mean they're all fantastic birds
aren't they have you had many guillemots fledging yet? Is it
still too early?
TOM HENDRY: No no so we're in full kind of guillemot fledging
season so you can hear all the squawks. You might be able to
pick out the odd kind of high-pitched cheeping.
This would be the guillemot chicks. They only leave the nest
site when they're about three weeks old only, about half the
size of the adult. They can't even fly. The dad will lead them
off the cliff, so they'll jump off the ledge into the water,
and that's them out at sea for the rest, well, for the whole
winter.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: The boat docks at the Inner Farne jetty, and
Dan and Tom walk up the rocks onto the island hoping to spot
some puffins or one of their chicks known as pufflings. Tom
then notices something fluffy and cute in the water.
TOM HENDRY: Right so we just got off the boat on the jetty. I've
actually just spotted a puffling in the water there.
DAN ICETON: Oh what a great spot.
TOM HENDRY: So they'll actually be one of our actually possibly
our very first puffin that we've seen actually fledged from the
burrow of its own accord. So the parents will leave leave it to
itself under cover of darkness it typically it'll leave the
burrow, make its way down through the vegetation and out
to sea. And that's it now. For the next two years of its life,
it'll just be on the water the whole time.
DAN ICETON: Can we go have a look up at the puffin burrows?
See if we can see any more puffins knocking about maybies?
TOM HENDRY: Yeah, let's take a look.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: To get to the puffin burrows in the centre of
the island, Dan and Tom first have to pass through the Arctic
terns' nesting site. Visitors are advised to wear a protective
hat for what's about to happen.
DAN ICETON: Walking up we can hear the Arctic turns as we go
can't we?
TOM HENDRY: Yeah so the first zone it seems to be is the
Arctic turn zone. Which tend to like nesting around our
buildings and our kind of infrastructure weirdly. So this
means that we will be running the gauntlet in a way. They do
like to quite vigorously defend their young by attacking us,
dive bombing us.
DAN ICETON: That's the start of them sort of fluttering up and
they're really chattering.
Above our heads and the odd ones dive bomb and luckily I haven't
been pecked yet. Yeah it's a it's a call isn't it that really
sort of chattering call that they like to do
TOM HENDRY: That's right yeah. And you can probably see there's
chicks of different sizes. Here we go
DAN ICETON: Oh there we go there's the first peck. It's not
too bad through the hat is it but you definitely know they've
been
TOM HENDRY: I mean i wear quite a thick hat so in my experience
they always manage to get the hole or the weak point.
God it's good to be back.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: As Dan and Tom reach the puffin burrows they
can see the little black and white seabirds with their
colourful bills and legs scuttling around and flying
past. Inner Farne is a perfect habitat for the puffins to
create their underground homes with only the entrances visible
at the surface.
DAN ICETON: So walking more towards the puffin burrows and a
lot of them have just flown out to sea kind of flying straight
in front of it really they almost seem quite clumsy flyers
compared to the other birds but they move at quite a pace don't
they?
TOM HENDRY: They do. Very fast wing beats
DAN ICETON: They're not a massive they're just looking at
some here and they're what 15 centimetres tall. But the beak
on them it's a big beacon like it's that bright orange with
like the the bands of colour on them.
And yes, so the beak's here for the summer, and then they lose
the beak don't they? So they do lose that characteristic trait.
TOM HENDRY: They do. yeah, it's like a sheath that comes off,
like the coloured sheath comes off and they've got a much
darker bill for the winter plumage. It's almost like
they've got their party clothes on for the breeding season, you
know, for the partners to attract each other, show that
they're in prime physical shape for breeding.
And then once that happens, it's into the comfies after that. And
then, you know, some more subdued plumage. So puffin, it's
in the auk family. I mean, you might say it's like the northern
equivalent of the penguin in many ways. I mean, they're not
related at all, but there are certain characteristics, you
know.
There's a lot of black on them. They kind of stand upright. They
all just lay one egg as well. They lay one egg a year. But
puffin's the only one which burrows underground. There's
quite, there aren't many birds in Britain that do actually dig
their own burrows and nest underground. So I think that
fact alone is quite...
Makes them quite amazing birds what's quite typical of puffins
and many seabirds is that they are quite monogamous so they're
kind of loyal to their partners they'll take it in turns you
know to incubate the egg and to kind of feed the chick. So
unlike say you know many of the duck species you know the the
males are quite hands-on or beaks on parents if you like and
with a long lifespan which a typical lifespan is about 15
years, but the record is over 30 years old for puffin as well.
With a good, reliable partner, a good location, because they'll
come back to the same burrow each year, the hope is that
they'll get plenty of chicks away in their lifetime.
They've got that advantage of being underground, adds so much
more protection in terms of predators. Puffin chicks, they
can be taken by some of the large gull species, such as
herring gulls. And in fact, the biggest predator we have here,
well, avian predator, the great black-backed gull, they can also
sort of take and kill an adult puffin as well.
DAN ICETON: And then round here, well, they're known as many
different sort of names, aren't they?
TOM HENDRY: They do, they do. There's obviously clowns of the
sea and sea parrots are quite common ones although here as
well The local Northumberlands call them Tommynoddies, which is
a great one.
DAN ICETON: Just looking over the island and this whole area,
it's almost pockmarked with burrows and the puffins are kind
of just wandering about quite happily.
TOM HENDRY: This is like the prime habitat for them really.
It's the maritime meadow with a nice mix of sea campion, orich
and scurvy grass as well. Campion in particular, you know.
Roots that bind the soil together because as you can see
this many burrows you know it's a bit of a honeycomb situation
going on underground so you need some robust soil.
DAN ICETON: So how many how many burrows are there?
TOM HENDRY: So on this island, Inner Farne, we'll have over
15000 pairs of puffins.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: A puffin census takes place every year to
keep a check on the colony. Monitoring all the seabirds is
vital, particularly since the bird flu outbreaks of 2022 and
2023. For the puffins, a sample of burrows is taken and
replicated across the island.
They're assessed for occupation, checking for signs of digging
and droppings. Sometimes the rangers put their hands inside
the burrows looking for puffins and eggs. To gauge adult puffin
survival rates, coloured rings with three-digit codes are also
used. These are easy to spot and help track the birds as they
return to the island.
Tom's licensed to ring the puffins and has an adult bird
that he needs to do. The first part of the job is to get the
puffin out of its burrow.
TOM HENDRY: I'm going to try to catch an adult bird to ring it
and then colouring it.
DAN ICETON: Tom's just putting his arm into the puffin burrow.
Oh looks like we've got something.
TOM HENDRY: We do have something. It was fine to me.
DAN ICETON: So while you're doing that what does it feel
like?
TOM HENDRY: Quite wriggly
DAN ICETON: The length of the burrow is such that it's almost
full arm length. And this is then the issue of trying to
trying to get these birds because they can't just scoot
right into the back of the burrow. Tom is just pulling the
bird out it's still trying to get away you can see there's a
lot of movement flatness wings a lot.
TOM HENDRY: Here we go. So that's an adult puffin.
DAN ICETON: Tom's holding the bird there.
TOM HENDRY: So I've got a bit of a grip around its firm part of
its top of its head there. The claws there are very sharp, as
you can see. And they are kind of digging in to me slightly
there.
DAN ICETON: Yeah they're digging in.
TOM HENDRY: I'll use this ring here. I'm gonna pop it on the
right leg.
DAN ICETON: So Tom's just using the the ring and pliers there.
So we're putting the metal ring on this one. Requires quite a
lot of concentration because obviously the puffin's not too
keen on just holding its leg out for you is it it doesn't want to
play ball.
TOM HENDRY: It's not no. Okay so now we'll before we let it go
we'll just do a couple of measurements. So we'll we'll do
the wing length so for this we'll just place so this is so i
have one five four for the wing. Now this is the tricky bit OK,
would you be okay Dan to help me measure the the build depth? So
what i'll do i'm going to secure the beak shut and it'll probably
bite me in the process so it's all fine.
DAN ICETON: Good luck there we go
TOM HENDRY: Yeah oh that hurt
DAN ICETON: It's got a sharp beak
TOM HENDRY: So I'd just shut like that. As far as you can,
yeah, just like the top bit there.
DAN ICETON: 27.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: With the ring in place and the measurements
taken, there's just the puffin's weight to check. The easiest way
to do this is by placing the puffin in a small plastic
measuring jug and putting this on the scales. It's a quick
method and doesn't harm the puffin.
TOM HENDRY: Thank you. And the last thing we'll do...
DAN ICETON: Is this where the puffin jug comes in?
TOM HENDRY: This is where the puffin jug comes in. So I'll
just put the head first in, just for a moment.
DAN ICETON: So head first in, obviously, just to try and stop
it flying away. 2, 8, 1.
TOM HENDRY: 2, 8, 1?
DAN ICETON: Yeah.
TOM HENDRY: Great, and that's it.
DAN ICETON: And has gone straight back in? Yeah. Happy as
anything. How's your fingers?
TOM HENDRY: Fine. Fine.
DAN ICETON: I think you see you're covered in scars anyways,
aren't you?
TOM HENDRY: Yeah, two more for the collection.
DAN ICETON: It's a dangerous job.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: The rangers are following a long tradition
of past wardens and watchers on the Farne Islands, keeping an
eye on the seabirds and their numbers. The monitoring
information is given to organisations like the British
Trust For Ornithology and contributes to the national
picture of seabird health.
It's also used by the rangers to get insights into some of the
issues that the birds might face on the Farne Islands and helps
them plan for managing these in future years.
TOM HENDRY: In terms of puffins, the most important thing is to
maintain the habitat as much as possible.
This is trying to prevent some of the erosion that might happen
because seals for example on the outer group they can cause a bit
of damage to the soil erosion as well which might affect the
puffin burrows. So on Inner Farne we just want to try and
prevent them from coming up top too high.
Puffins like all seabirds you know they they will be affected
by increasingly poor weather and climate change as well some of
the work that we're doing is giving it all give them a
fighting chance. All that we want to do is keep a close eye
on the species and do all we can. To ensure that they'll be
here and thriving in another 100 years time.
DAN ICETON: It's been a real pleasure being back on the Farne
Islands. I hadn't quite realised how much I'd missed the place
until we came back on. But it's just been lovely seeing all the
birds and seeing the puffins. They're such a charismatic
animal. But what's really nice is just sort of hearing that
good news story.
The population is stable. They are still here and they are
doing well, which is what we want to hear going forward. This
is such a difficult environment to work on. There's a lot of
challenges working here. You get pooed on, you get pecked, and
that's just part of your normal day job.
But it is really such a privilege to experience the
habitat and lives of these amazing birds. And that is going
to stay with me forever.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Thanks for listening to this episode of
Wild Tales. If you liked it why not give us a like or a follow
we'll be back soon with another episode in a couple of weeks.
But if you can't wait that long why not check out our other
nature podcast Nature Fix. Or if you like your history too
there's Back When. I'll see you next time