Beautiful video captures thousands of adorable puffins making their return to National Trust site for 2025

These were the scenes (click to play above) as the first puffins of the year arrived at a popular National Trust site for 2025.

Spectacular video, captured by Billy Shiel’s Boat Trips, shows the magical sight as ‘thousands of’ the colourful birds took over the island. The tour operator offers daily puffin cruises and other nature experiences.

The seabirds - shown in the clip above - remained free of bird 'flu' in 2024, after being hit hard by the disease in 2022 and 2023 when rangers collected nearly 10,000 dead birds (6,000, and 3,647 in the respective years), giving some hope that immunity is building within the colony. They returned to the Farne Islands in Northumberland, two miles off Seahouses on the Northumberland Coast in the spring, departing once their chicks are fully fledged, at the end of the summer.

2025 marks 100 years of the 28-island archipelago being in the Trust's care and visitors' boats will be landing on the Farne Islands from April in time for the start of the breeding season, with bookings now open with boat trip operators.

The Farne Islands are a National Nature Reserve and are an internationally important home to approximately 200,000 seabirds. Inner Farne will be the only island to open to visitor landings this year.The National Trust is celebrating 100 years of the 28-island archipelago being in its care.

Laura Knowles, visitor operations and experience manager for the National Trust says: “We’re excited to announce that Inner Farne has reopened for visitor landings, and just in time, the first puffins have arrived back onto the islands.

“This is an exciting year for us as we celebrate the centenary of the Farne Islands coming into the care of the National Trust and we can’t wait to welcome visitors and to share the wonderful wildlife of the island up close once more.

“Sail around tours will also continue to be available for those visitors that want to experience the magic of the islands from the water.”

The Farne Islands are an internationally important home to approximately 200,000 seabirds, including the charismatic puffin, Arctic terns, and kittiwakes. The birds return to the islands, two miles off Seahouses, in the spring, departing once their chicks are fully fledged, at the end of the summer. 

The Farnes remained free of bird ‘flu’ in 2024, after being hit hard by the disease in 2022 and 2023, when rangers collected nearly 10,000 dead birds, giving some hope that immunity is building within the colony.

Sophia Jackson, area ranger for the National Trust on the Farne Islands, said: “We have been closely monitoring the impact of the disease on our breeding populations as part of international research into bird flu.

“This has shown that the disease has had devastating impacts on some species and at some UK sites making our conservation efforts all the more important.”

The Farne Islands were vested into the care of the National Trust on 10 August 1925. The National Trust will be marking this milestone with a series of events throughout the year.

William Shiel, from Billy Shiel’s Boat Trips, one of the companies that takes visitors to the Farne Islands said: "This winter has been a fantastic pupping season for the seals and now that we're in spring I've already seen large rafts of puffins on the water, whilst transporting the National Trust rangers to and from the islands. This is a very promising sign so early in the season.”