Mixed fortunes for Farne Islands’ seabirds in 2025 breeding season - National Trust
Annual bird counts on the Farne Islands have revealed a mixed picture for the internationally important seabird colonies two years after several species were severely impacted by an outbreak of Avian Influenza.
This year’s count on the Islands, an internationally significant sanctuary for the 200,000 seabirds that return each summer to breed, was vitally important given the islands’ three seasons of closure between 2020 and 2024, firstly due to Covid-19, followed immediately by bird flu, which saw 6,000 dead birds recovered from the islands, with thousands more thought to be lost at sea.
The puffin, for which the islands are best known, saw numbers of breeding pairs drop 23% on 2024’s figures – 50,103 to 38,500 breeding pairs. Yet, despite this decrease, experts are cautioning against interpreting it as a sudden population decline, noting the need for long-term monitoring.
Ben McCarthy, Head of Nature Conservation at the National Trust said: “Counting puffins is a notoriously complex task. There is no single perfect method, and annual variations in survey conditions, puffin behaviour, and environmental factors all influence the count. While the decline in numbers is concerning, it’s important to view this year’s results within the broader context of global puffin trends. The shift we made to annual monitoring in 2019 reflects the Trust’s commitment to understanding and protecting puffins over the long term. The puffins, although impacted by the bird flu outbreak in 2022/23, were not as impacted as other species thanks in part to their naturally self-isolating behaviour of nesting in burrows and their regular burrow cleaning. To better ensure the accuracy of our data we will now reassess density areas every five years to better reflect the dynamic nature of the islands’ landscape. Soil erosion, driven by the expanding grey seal colony and extreme weather events such as Storm Arwen a few years ago, is reshaping puffin nesting habitats - making structured long-term monitoring more critical than ever.”
Posted On: 26/11/2025
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