Puffins flying after bird flu outbreak.

THE puffin population on the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast has been declared "stable" after a devastating bird flu outbreak, the National Trust said.

The charity's team of rangers this year carried out the first full count of the seabird species since 2019 on the remote national nature reserve, finding populations flourishing and avian influenza absent.

The Farnes are an internationally important home to approximately 200,000 seabirds, including puffins, arctic terns and kittiwakes, all three of which are on the UK's "red list" of greatest conservation concern.

National Trust rangers had been unable to make a full count of puffins in the last few years due to coronavirus restrictions and then to dealing with devastating waves of avian influenza in 2022 and 2023. This year, they have finally been able to count the population and estimate the number of puffins breeding on the islands was around 50,000 pairs, compared to nearly 44,000 in 2019, suggesting a 15% increase in numbers.

Finding bird flu to be absent among the species, the charity said this could mean the seabirds have built a natural resilience.

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The 2024 count on the Farne Islands in Northumberland found populations of puffins flourishing on the national nature reserve, and avian influenza absent