Every five years the National Trust carries out a census of the islands’ population of puffins, and this year’s survey showed there were almost 40,000 nesting pairs on the islands – an 8 percent rise from 2008.
Grey seals play underwater by the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast, near Seahouses, northern England November 17 2013.
The islands also host some 23 species of seabird, as well as a substantial colony of grey seals, who come to have their pups there in the autumn.