Well, the 2022 UK Puffin trip is about to begin (June 24). It’s already off to a rocky start. Firstly, the trip has been postponed twice due to Covid, so there is that. Next, we were hit with new landing rules for the Farne Islands. Since the birds have not been disturbed in two years, they have started building nests along some of the boardwalks. That, plus staffing issues has created a change. Change is not always good and to be fair it’s not always bad.
Next, we have to pile on the Avian flu (highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 has been confirmed in Scotland and in other parts of the UK.) which has been killing many seabirds abroad including the gannets that nest on Bass Rock. So, for us that means our planned visit to the rock is off. But more importantly, thousands of seabirds have already died, and the numbers go up daily. I am hopeful that something can be done soon to stop this outbreak.
The drama or bad luck - whichever you prefer, continues, as some of my clients are flying British Airlines home and a strike is festering and should be in full swing just in time to delay or cancel their flights home…It has been much easier to fly internationally, however, there are still some COVID related issues that most people don’t think about. Staffing is one of the biggest issues. Even though most airports, airlines, restaurants, hotels, parks, etc. are listed as fully operational- there are a lot of them that are grossly understaffed or have new employees that have not been fully trained.
And on the day before I left one of the clients tested positive for COVID and could not come on the trip. Holy smokes that’s a lot of bad luck!! Jinxed is the word I have been using.
Ok, so with all of that going on why not cancel? Bad weather = good pictures. I’m hoping that a rough start ends up being a great ending. Call me optimistic but I truly believe that we will still have a wonderful adventure filled with great photo opportunities.
So, onto the trip details. It ended up being a fantastic week at the cottages. We had many more landings and photo opportunities than I had anticipated given the new circumstances. We did not get to land on Bass Rock, but my friend Michael/co-driver and I took the group to Bempton Cliffs and enjoyed a gannet filled day. In fact, I will be changing the itinerary for next year’s trip to include a drive to Bempton Cliffs with a one night stay there so that we can have three possible photo sessions. The cliffs, flowers, flight shots-all very good! Lots of Northern Gannets!
At the Farne Island we had some great opportunities with Atlantic Puffin, Guillemot, Razor Bill, Shag, Arctic Tern and more…. Most days we had a landing on Inner Farne. For those of you that have been there before, that is the island with the dive-bombing Arctic Terns, they are great fun to watch and photograph and yes sometimes they do hit your head and it hurts but just a tiny bit…
Our last day we were able to land on Staple Island as well as Inner Farne, the group agreed that this year Inner Farne was better anyway! We had a great group—I mean a really great group. Everyone got along well. We enjoyed our dinners together and all the time spent on the boats and the islands. Plus, I think we all love puffins!
After all the bad luck or jinxing that went on it turned out to be a fantastic trip. I’ll be driving the group back to Edinburgh this morning and I am already looking forward to next year’s trip. I’ve added a few of my favorite images from this year’s visit.
The gannets above were photographed at Bempton Cliffs, I loved the soft blowing grasses in the foreground.
Some of the cliffs were filled with small daisy-like flowers. I loved including them in the foreground. Sometimes blurred flowers and sometimes not.
When the sun is behind you and hits the sea it can create a beautiful bokeh, I like this look and spent some time sharing the how-to and where the best spot to create it.
A young gannet coming in for a landing at Bempton Cliffs.
As I was moving my camera to another bird I noticed this vail of color covering this puffin that looked like it was going to smell the flower.
Kittiwake coming in with nestng material to the cliffside at Inner Farne.
I can’t leave the Farne Islands without a puffin in heaven shot! I shared my technique for this shot with the group and of course my favorite spot for it.
