A festival celebrating the 'clowns of the sea' returns to a town on the Northumberland Coast over half term after a two year break due to coronavirus.
Amble, known as the friendliest port, is expecting to welcome people from all over the UK for its annual puffin festival, celebrating the small and charismatic seabirds which breed on Coquet Island, just 500 metres off the coast. Though the main festival coincides with the Queen's Jubilee weekend of June 4 and 5, fringe events will be held from Saturday so that families visiting during the half-term holidays can get involved - with the majority free to attend.
And there's a lot going on, with a craft fair, guided nature walks, live music and arts and crafts, aiming to put a smile on the face of all ages. This year there'll also be a giant screen in the town square live streaming a webcam into a puffin burrow on Coquet Island, with a puffling (puffin chick) expected to hatch at some point before the festival is over - and the island's RSPB warden Paul Morrison giving talks on the birds.
Read more: New webcam to give window into lives of puffins on island off Northumberland coast
Julia Aston of the Amble Development Trust, said: "It's a community event with all sorts of activities that we try to keep bird related. Some of them are just community events, for example the children's funfair. But we're doing as much as we can with puffins!"
In the arts and crafts sessions alone, there's puffin kite making, puffin mask making, mini polymer clay puffins, and Raku pottery, where you can paint a puffin on your pottery. The festival takes place at this time of year as it's puffin breeding season, with colonies nearby and on the Farne Islands, and there's a lot of excitement for its return.
And as well as drawing attention to the puffins and the environment around the coastal town, it brings people into the local businesses: with a swathe of independent shops in the town, as well as highly-commended places to eat, from chippies to bistro-style restaurants.
Julia continued: "Everything was set in place before and the process just happened. But after two years, we were thinking how do we start again?
"But it's great, and people are really interested. We know that people travel all over to come to Amble for their holidays anyway, but they come to the puffin festival because there are loads of activities and they're mostly free, apart from one or two of the talks."
Are you planning to visit the Amble Puffin Festival? Let us know!
"I've been in communication with an elderly lady from Cheltenham who couldn't wait for this to come back and she's coming up next weekend. She's visiting around and about, but she wanted to go on a puffin cruise and she's so excited about it.
"It's not just us that are excited, we know that there are loads of people who can't wait to come to Amble and see the puffins. It's such a lovely friendly place, and there's lots to see and do here."
Following the festival, the Amble Development Trust will also be installing a 'Boord Waalk,' (bird walk, not board walk) a sculpture trail inspired by the birdlife found around the Amble Coast, including gulls, which runs through the village and out to sites such as Hauxley Nature Reserve and the River Coquet. Though it's not ready yet, there will be information available at the Puffin Festival ahead of its launch.
Julia added: "It's taken a few years, we're giving the public information on where the sculptures are going to be and what they look like. When we do eventually get our sculpture trail installed, we'll have an app too, so younger visitors can find out more information because they're more into the technology side!"
The Puffin Festival is sponsored by Amble's Dry Water Arts, who are hosting several of the arts and crafts sessions; Northumberland County Council and Amble Town Council. For more information, visit the Amble Puffin Festival website.
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