National Trust - Farne Islands — Attraction in England

This nature reserve is incredible and well worth a day of anyone's time. Getting there isn't cheap, when you take into account the cost of the boat trip and also the National Trust entry fee for the islands, though you can almost half this if you are a National Trust member.

Take a full day trip and visit both the inner and outer Farne islands where you can see a wide range of birds including puffins, comorants, kittiwakes, oystercatchers, razorbills, black headed gulls, 3 varieties of terns and more and also Atlantic grey seals. The highlights for me as a photographer are definitely the puffins and the terns.

Bear in mind, when you visit the inner island where the terns live, you really need a hat for protection. I cannot stress enough how essential this is.

These birds nest on and adjacent to pathways and are fierely territorial. They have razor sharp beaks and will persistently attack anyone who comes close. If you don't have some form of head protection they will draw blood. A baseball cap or better still, a plastic lined bump cap will suffice - woolly hats will offer no protection.

Also consider wearing some form of waterproof layer so you can easily wipe off any droppings - you'll need it. Sturdy walking shoes are also a very good idea as you'll be walking on uneven and often slippery rocks on the outer...

The Farne islands are one of the best places, if not the best place, to go and see colonies of sea birds. They are situated a 15-20 minute boat ride from Seahouses harbour and are serviced by a number of boat companies who are easily book able in advance. The sea can be a little choppy but on the last day I went (the previous had been 45years previously) it was calm and sea conditions were perfect. The boat took us around inner find then out to the stacks on Staple island taking time to see the smaller islands. Lounging seals were in abundance and were unperturbed by our presence. The boat went in very close so we could see shags, guillemots, razorbills, puffins, fulmar and kittiwakes very closely. We saw the little cottage that was the early home of Grace Darling. As a climax to the tour we moved back to inner Farne and disembarked for an hour. Terns quickly put up fierce defensive moves around their nests and chicks. After braving theses we were able to watch puffins carrying sand eels, shags tending their broods and a host of other birds. I wholeheartedly recommend a trip to the Farnes if it is at...

Excellent trip with Serenity Tours, nearly three hours with an hour on the Inner Farne island which is free to land on for National Trust members. I only had my phone camera but I was amazed how close we could actually get to the nesting birds; so an expensive super zoom camera wasn't really necessary. The National Trust staff on the island are very helpful and will tell you all about the different birds. I particularly loved the Puffins, they're so cute. You must stick to the board walks on the island, which not only makes the walking easy, but protects the birds from unwanted intrusion. Apart from Puffins, you can see Cormorants, Terns, Razorbills, Shags, Kittiwakes, Guillemots and of course Gulls. Also got to see Seals who are very curious popping their heads up in the sea to check you out. Whilst the day was overcast, it was still a brilliant trip, but go with warm clothing, the boat is open with no sheltered area; temperatures are cooler than on the land, particularly...