Sunday 21st August comments: Late August is a quiet time on the Farnes as the majority of our breeding seabirds have gone and only a handful remain. The last few breeding Puffins can be seen daily although as they are feeding hungry chicks, they spend one a brief moment on the islands before disappearing in search for more food. I did wonder whether these late besters enjoy having the place to themselves, after all, the waters around the Farnes have plenty of fish but with less competition!

The warden team are busy working on various management aspects of the islands including plenty of vegetation work alongside some ground preparation for next year. Small numbers of migrants are filtering through the islands including a stunning Wood Warbler recently, but any switch in wind direction to the east will bring a lot more birds. Watch this space, the forecast next week looks very very interesting….