Arctic Terns

Before the Bridled Tern provided a rousing finale to a weekend on the Farne Islands earlier this month, I had plenty of time to photograph the raucous and aggressive Arctic Terns which breed there colonially:

One of the smallest - and cutest - Arctic Terns I saw

These slightly older chicks were just out of a nest on the edge of the boardwalk

This young bird was waiting for the adult to bring food to the quayside

The begging started when the parent bird came into view...

...and here's lunch

With so many chicks to worry about the parent birds were at their most aggressive - not even the Rangers were safe

An unusually placid adult on the lichen covered walls of Inner Farne

Another adult

Adult birds were often alongside the boat apparently washing small fish before feeding the chicks

I didn't really have the weather and blue skies for flight photography but I quite like this one