'Puffin cams' return to island nature reserve

Twitchers will once again get a front row seat to the lives of 200,000 seabirds at a nature reserve.

The National Trust is bringing back "puffin cams" to the Farne Islands after more than 250,000 people tuned in last year to watch puffins and guillemots off the coast of Northumberland.

The charity's visitor operations manager Laura Knowles said she had been "overwhelmed by the incredible messages" from people across the world who may never be able to visit in person.

She said: "The breeding season is always a special time of year as our ranger teams gear up to monitor the birds daily over the spring and summer months."

The National Trust will be carrying out bird counts and looking out for birds ringed last year to "help assess survival rates and track how birds are faring".

The trust's Farne Island ranger Sophia Jackson said they had been monitoring the impact bird flu which badly impacted the area some years ago.

"In 2022 we recorded over 6,000 dead birds and more than 3,500 in 2023," she said.

"Comparing that to fewer than 10 in 2025 suggests things may be improving, but we can never let our guard down."

The National Trust's head of nature conservation Ben McCarthy said storms Goretti, Ingrid and Chandra earlier this year had also had an impact on birds' ability to feed, leading to their condition deteriorating or them dying.

He said: "We don't yet know what this means for the puffin and other seabirds which are returning to breed on the Farnes this year, but this makes these counts even more important when put in context with the more extreme weather our wildlife is also battling against due to climate change."

Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.