How to Help a Puffin
Puffins are one of Britain’s best loved birds but their numbers have been declining rapidly. Rebecca Gibson shares how photography project “Puffarazzi” is helping to protect this charismatic species.
Image: Rebecca Gibson
If you ask someone what their favourite British bird is they might reply with robin, kingfisher or perhaps golden eagle. Another of the popular choices is a bird that many people haven’t even seen in the wild but still can’t help but love. With a face so unique that it can’t possibly be confused at close range, the “sea parrot” enjoys constant affection from birdwatchers.
With their penguin-like waddle, gabbling calls and vividly coloured bills, puffins are full of character. A member of the auk family with razorbills and guillemots, puffins are found in colonies on cliffs and coastal hills. Instead of building nests, puffins raise their young in burrows, sometimes using disused rabbit warrens. They have a single chick, called a puffling, which is fed small fish until it fledges at 34 to 60 days. The puffin diet is dominated by fish, in particular the long sandeels that are often seen stacked up in the birds’ bills. Although they can be most easily seen in northern Britain, puffins are also found much further north in Greenland and Svalbard.
Image: Rebecca Gibson
Unfortunately, puffins are in trouble. Numbers have dropped significantly in recent years and scientists believe this may be due to a lack of food as a result of climate change. In fact, the species is now considered to be vulnerable to global extinction.
In response to these worrying changes, the RSPB launched “Puffarazzi” – a citizen science project aimed at better understanding what puffins eat and feed their chicks. Dr Ellie Owen, Conservation Scientist at the RSPB and leader of the project, explains that they “lack evidence of how puffin diet varies around the country, and how puffin diet might have changed or worsened in recent decades as our seas have warmed.”
Image: Rebecca Gibson
To take part in the study in previous years, all you had to do was visit a puffin colony, take photos of puffins with food in their bills (making sure not to disturb the birds) and send them to the RSPB. By analysing these images, scientists can get an idea of the locations where puffins may be struggling to find larger and more nutritious fish that their young depend on. The responses to Puffarazzi were fantastic – in the project’s first year in 2017 the RSPB received 1,402 photos. In 2019, this increased to 2,718 photos from 49 different colonies across the country.
Image: Rebecca Gibson
Of course, with the current lockdown Puffarazzi has had to adapt. This year, instead of asking participants to go out and take new photos of puffins, the team are only looking for existing imagery. As long as the date and location were recorded, images from any year can be sent in and will be added to the dataset. Old photos are great for showing what pufflings were fed on in previous breeding seasons and how this compares to modern data.
When the lockdown is over and we can venture a little further to see wildlife, I highly recommend watching puffins in the wild if you haven’t already. Around 80% of the British population live in Scotland, but they can be seen in other places including RSPB Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire (also an excellent spot for gannets) and the Farne Islands off the coast of Northumberland, which was where the photos in this article were taken. Puffins face an uncertain future, but citizen science projects like Puffarazzi are great ways for us all to contribute to their conservation.
Image: Rebecca Gibson
If you have any photos of puffins carrying food, Dr Ellie Owen and her team would love to see them. You can submit your images here and use the hashtags #Puffarazzi and #ProjectPuffinUK to promote the project on social media.
This is Rebecca’s first article for Bloom in Doom. She loves using her writing, photography and art to raise awareness of British wildlife. Visit her website to find out more.