Listening Earth Blog

Seabird soundscape from the Farne Islands by Listening Earth

No one could say that tens of thousands of seabirds breeding together on a small, rocky island would be anything but noisy. Raucous in fact.

Following on from Sarah’s recent posting of Puffins,

here is an audio recording from our visit to the Farne Islands.

Social living and limited space lead to some very vocal interactions between individuals, as birds return from feeding at sea to feed their young, and jostle among themselves throughout the day.

Nevertheless, their plaintive cries have an endearing quality and create a soundscape which is active and characterful.

On this recording you will hear Kittywakes (named after their “ke-ke-waeeek” calls, such as at 2.37), Guillemots (gruff, growling calls throughout), Sandwich Terns (“kerr-ink!” heard occasionally in flyby, such as 2.46), Arctic Terns (in the distance mainly) and Shags (occasional barking calls).