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