Paul Eccleston, The Telegraph 13 Nov 08;
The birds were bolstered by an ample supply of their staple food – sand eels – and managed to raise their young despite poor spring and summer weather.
The islands, two miles off the Northumberland coast between Bamburgh and Seahouses, are looked after by the National Trust (NT) whose wardens collect breeding success data as part of the UK Seabird Monitoring Programme.
They found that in terms of the number of fledged chicks during the 2008 season four of the six key species surveyed on the islands – shags, eider ducks, guillemots and razorbills – had an excellent year.
Further north on the Isle of May and on the Orkney and Shetland islands, which contain a high proportion of British sea birds, there was a poor breeding season, particularly for the kittiwake whose numbers continue to tumble.
The kittiwake population on the Farnes also had a poor year and numbers have dropped to their lowest levels since 1981.
Counts on two of the UK's largest puffin colonies, on the Farnes and Isle of May, had previously shown that numbers are down by about one-third compared to five years ago due apparently to a poor winter survival rate.
On the Farnes there are about 36,500 pairs compared to 55,674 in 2003 but those that did nest enjoyed an 86 per cent success rate.
At the height of the breeding season the Farnes plays host to more than 80,000 pairs of breeding sea birds which include four internationally important species – Arctic terns, sandwich terns, roseate terns and shags – all of whom had an average breeding season.
More than 43,000 people visit the islands every year between April and the end of September to see the wildlife.
David Steel, National Trust head warden on the Farne Islands, said: "Many sea bird colonies have suffered badly this year with the cold spring and wet summer and through a lack of sand eels, the staple food of the seabirds, which can be catastrophic for any seabird colony.
"It's been a reasonably trouble-free summer for the Farne Islands with a good supply of sand eels around the Islands and the seabirds have managed to come through the poor weather conditions."
He added: "The islands witnessed a year-on-year increase in the population of several species but more importantly eider and shag numbers. Both species reported their best breeding seasons in over ten years."
Matt Parsons, coordinator of the UK Seabird Monitoring Programme for the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, said: "Sea birds around the UK had a mixed breeding season in 2008. While European shags bred very successfully, many species fared poorly, especially kittiwakes, Arctic terns, Arctic skuas, guillemots and fulmars."