‘They will often give you a wee nip’: rangers count puffins on Farne Islands

Annual survey is important for understanding health of the Atlantic puffin's breeding colonies

• The annual Farne Islands puffin count returns - in pictures

It may well be one of the least hi-tech nature counts in the UK, and involves rangers sticking their arms blindly down a hole knowing there will be one of five outcomes: they will feel either a puffin egg, a puffling, excrement, nothing at all - or the annoyed reaction of a puffin as a giant hand suddenly enters its home.

They will quite often give you a wee nip," said Harriet Reid, an area ranger at the National Trust, smiling. I can show you a couple of scars ... it does hurt. But I'm used to it."