Farne Islands Trip May 2011 (1 Viewer)

[woodhornbirder]

The other question is regarding a hat. Is a soft hat, such as a baseball cap enough, or do we need to go down the full-on hard hat route?

dont listen to mad mackems! take a stick, so they attack that rather than you.

BE prepared for the worst and your trip will be more fun.

 

[Andy K]

Woodhornbirder,

Excuse me ! I live here in Sunderland but no no way I am a Makem ( an original Manc ! United too ! Rare I know !) .

I take your point about a stick, but on my trips ( many) have felt birds flash very close past my head but never touch me. Your advice to take a stick is probably right though for full protection !

 

[_pauls]

You definately dont need a scope.

I don't think I even used my bins let alone needing a scope, in fact at times my 70-300mm lens was too big to get photos and I had to swap for a 18-55mm one!

 

[Lmc3598]

Hi
I went to the Farnes last year and am planning to go again this year
The puffins are surprisingly tame and you can get close up to them.
Inner Farne is probably the best one for a variety of birdlife but Staple Island has more puffins. Watch out, as they are quite low flying and last time one took some of my hair off! (not literally, but it did brush the top of my head) they are clumsy flyers and that sharp beak of their's makes them a mild threat of a head injury

Good luck!

 

[martin kitching]

A word of advice to anyone considering basing their headgear choices on Andy K's comments...don't! Arctic Terns can, and frequently do, deliver painful blows to the heads of visitors. A soft hat/baseball cap should suffice though. I wouldn't advise wearing any sort of hard hat; unless you particularly want a tern with a broken beak or neck on your conscience.

Having said all this...enjoy - it's an extraordinary experience :t:

cheers
martin

...the terns do dive down close to you but the restricted walk area seems to be seen by them as relatively non intrusive so they dip close but not that close !

 

[woodhornbirder]

actually i was thinking....I wonder if it makes a differnce which week a person visits the island as to how agressive the terns are? I was last there pretty deep into june, and most birds had chicks, the arctics around the chapel were more aggressive than those who were more spread out: at least it seemed that way. The males in the tightly packed areas were more fierce in their defending of territory.

Perhaps in may the terns are less aggressive. Perhaps not all terns ahave arrived and so less territory is being fought over?

I have no real idea, just an idea to mullover....

 

[The sniper]

I have a floppy hat,bit like a cricket hat but blue.
I shall be wearing this,i assume its ok,i may put a clean hanky under the hat for minimum headache

 

[martin kitching]

I fairly certain that aggression towards human visitors is not related to how many terns are on territory. I've taken clients across to the islands in mid-May and the terns are busy displaying, but very relaxed towards human presence. Once they've got eggs/chicks to defend then the aggression towards visitors really kicks in

Although difficult to quantify, my impression is that birds with well-grown chicks seem to be less aggressive.

cheers
martin

Perhaps in may the terns are less aggressive. Perhaps not all terns ahave arrived and so less territory is being fought over?

 

[Barred Wobbler]

I'd agree with Martin re headgear..

Take a soft hat - I wear a cotton bush hat and it's enough. Do not under any circumstances wear a hard safety helmet - totally unnecessary - and this from someone who owns several from past working necessity. (My bush hat is in the pic below).

If you don't wear a hat you risk the fate of a hatless bald bloke that stepped from the boat just in front of me a few years ago. Before he'd gone 20 yards he was bleeding from cuts to the head. With a hat, it's no worse than someone tapping you on the head with a finger.

On the other hand, you definitely don't need a stick. I think it was last year that one idiot took one and panicked when the terns started coming in. He took a swipe and killed one. I hear there was almost a lynching. If you're that frightened of birds, don't go.

 

[The sniper]

We went on a trip Saturday,fantastic place and fantastic birds.So good,I am going back in a few weeks.I just took a floppy hat and got pecked a few times but I didn't feel any pain,just like someone tapping on my head
A wonderful trip but two days including the drive to and from London isn't enough time to explore anything other than the farnes hence my need to go back

 

[bongofury]

Thanks for all the info. I was mainly concerned for my semi-birding partner, but I know which approach to take now. Hopefully it won't be too windy this weekend to land at Inner Farne.

 

[The sniper]

On saturday we saw a young lady in high heels and a hood covering her head,she looked like she was enjoying herself!!

 

[Lmc3598]

Hi im going this Sunday and cant choose between Staple Island and Inner Farne went to Staple last year which do you think

 

[The sniper]

We went on both,personally if I went again I would probably just do inner farne as it has pretty much all the usual suspects on there.Both islands are fantastic in their own rights but we went staple first and then inner farne and it was good that way because of the amount of terns on inner.Had we done it the other way I think the second island (staple) may of been a little bit of an anti climax.

 

[Kevin Groocock]

As the starter of this thread, many thanks to everyone for the very useful information, I shall be staying at Seahouses for the week from 28th May. I have booked the all day birdwatching trip to both islands and also the RSPB trip to Coquet Island. I may make a second trip to just one island. Just hoping that the weather is good and enables everyones wishes to be fullfilled.

 

[grumps]

Kevin - enjoy! I was on Inner Farne last Wednesday and it was as good as ever. Think you have the right itinary giving you chance to see and enjoy all thats on offer.

Hugh

 

[Kevin Groocock]

Cheers, Hugh - its taken many years to get here and I really want to enjoy the area at its best.

 

[martin kitching]

If you do it as an all-day birdwatching trip, that's the only way round it can be done; landing on Staple is restricted to mornings, landing on Inner Farne restricted to afternoons.

I took a group of 18 clients on an all-day trip last Wednesday - interestingly the majority preferred Staple Island to Inner Farne.

cheers
martin

We went on both,personally if I went again I would probably just do inner farne as it has pretty much all the usual suspects on there.Both islands are fantastic in their own rights but we went staple first and then inner farne and it was good that way because of the amount of terns on inner.Had we done it the other way I think the second island (staple) may of been a little bit of an anti climax.