Seabird sights to be captured on webcam

WILDLIFE lovers will be able to get a close-up view of the spectacular sight of thousands of seabirds gathering on the internationally important Farne Islands.

- 

To mark the centenary of the National Trust taking over the islands off the Northumberland coast, the conservation charity is setting up two webcams so people can watch the seabird breeding season.

One will be trained on the puffin burrows and one on the cliffs where some of the 200,000 seabirds gather every year to breed.

National Trust rangers will carry out the annual puffin count to monitor the number of breeding pairs.

The wildlife haven, accessible to visitors by boat from Seahouses, is made up of as many as 28 islands depending on the tide and is home to 23 species of seabirds.

Human visitor numbers have been restricted in recent years, firstly by the Covid lockdown and then by avian flu which badly affected some species.