The Farne Islands are situated just off the Northumbrian coast, near Seahouses and Bamburgh Castle, a little north of Newcastle.
Samantha and I drove up to Seahouses with our good friends, Shaun and Rebecca and despite the high possibility of rain (well, it is England!), we took a chance and booked a boat trip once we got there.
Initially, we chugged out to some of the islands, seeing loads of interesting sea birds, plus, some very cool seals. Some of whom swim reasonably close to the boat, whilst others lazily stay on the island rocks, howling and looking at us - looking at them!
We thought that we may be slightly too late in the year to see loads of puffins as their nesting season was drawing to a close. However, whilst there weren't too many puffins, there were a few....some flying, some swimming on the water.
Maybe it's just me but Puffins are a curious bird. 
What with their colourful beaks, perpetually filled with rows of fish...(you've all seen the classic shots)...to the way they fly differently to other birds....they flap their wings like crazy when they fly, making it look like they are going at a million miles an hour!
They're well cool though....that's for sure.
Turns out mid to late June is the best time to see stacks of puffins, so perhaps this will be something we will plan.
We also saw some other brilliant birds whilst we were there, some of whom are very calm, inquisitive and seemingly very tame. They certainly weren't perturbed by the visitors presence, very close to them.
All in all, the Farne Islands were very interesting and we'll be planning a return trip at some stage.
