ON TV DETECTIVE’S LATEST DRAMA
week, we are probably slightly grubbier than the fictional rangers, too!
Although our lifestyle out here is unique, it is certainly more mundane than depicted on Vera.
Being fairly isolated out here, we have a very close community, but with a lot less drama than on the show.
Another important difference is that no ranger would ever be left alone on the islands, keeping us safe from any Vera-like scenarios!
Our existence on the islands greatly relies upon the boatmen who crew the visitor boats, as these are the boats which bring our water supplies, gas and fuel out to the islands.
We therefore have a genuine fondness and good working relationship with the boat crews, and so it was nice to see that Vera had acknowledged our ties with the boatmen.
Our day-to-day life changes a lot throughout the year. The team has recently moved back out to the islands and at the moment we are busy preparing to welcome our first visitors on April 1.
Every year we count every single nest across the islands and monitor the success of each species; it’s a part of our job that visitors rarely see, but is hugely important as the Farne Islands are proud to have some of the longest running seabird monitoring in the country.
The rest of our time is spent sharing the amazing spectacle of a breeding seabird colony with our visitors, who are often surprised at how close you can get to the birds.
Now is a great time to see the birds building their nests, and by the time we open to visitors next week, we expect to see our first shag eggs appearing on the cliffs!
It’s not just birds; across the year we also monitor plants, butterflies, moths and cetaceans, and take on the huge task of counting the seal pups in the winter – this year we’ve had a record breaking 2,295 seal pups!
Inner Farne will be open to visitors from Saturday. The second episode of the new series of Vera will be on ITV tonight at 8pm. Rangers on the Inner Farne gather to watch Vera Ranger Sarah setting up mist nets for bird ringing on Inner Farne Assistant ranger Tom Hendry with an Arctic tern on his head. Rangers counting nests during the Farne Islands annual census