Arriving on the Friday eve, a boat was booked for the following morning and with a pretty big swell, landing wasn't guaranteed (no landings on Staple Island were possible all week!) A drop in the wind overnight meant it was all systems go.... and then the other uncertainty - would it be present within the time scale of restricted landing times??
A couple of minutes after landing on Inner Farne, it was time to tuck into a Tunnock's teacake :-) Here's why.....
You can see a hint of the really dark upper parts but on turning sideways, it really is a Tern to stand out from the crowd!
A moment to savour!!
But destined not to last! It flew out twice during the stay.....
but ultimately returned......
A wingflap at it's closest perching point!
I never moved from the jetty all afternoon - those Puffins will just have to wait!
I'll leave you with this one! It was raining at the time - I didn't even notice it......
There was also another year tick - Roseate Tern!! With four Tern species in the image below, I couldn't coax the Bridled to join in :-( Oh well....
Half way through the year and a glance at the year list - now at a respectable 240! One thing's for sure, my previous best of 252 is going to be eclipsed and it's going to get tough! I'm making no predictions or targets (and sticking to my original aims of travelling where my talks and other planned trips take me) - what will be, will be!
I might just do the odd twitch too? :-)
Oh and there are many GBs of Puffins / Terns etc etc to sort.....
