You will probably have noticed a big increase in activity from the puffins on the cameras from the last weeks of May onwards. This is because their chicks have hatched!

After incubating their eggs for about 6 weeks the parents will finally have a little beak to feed. Puffins only ever have one puffling chick per pair, but the parents have to put in a lot of effort to feed it and get the puffling fat before they fledge (leave to go out to sea at the end of the season).

Puffin in a burrow - Joshua Copping

On average the parent birds spend over 7 hours a day underwater plus around an hour and a half flying back and forth to fishing areas – imagine how much energy that takes! This includes eight to ten feeds every day of around 450 sand eels for themselves and the chick, for about six weeks.

Make sure to watch the cameras in the next few weeks to see the adults dropping in with fish in their beaks, avoiding the gulls which would steal the fish given the chance. We love to hear when watching on the cameras so leave a comment on the blogs or get in touch with Claire on headofoutreach@alderneywildlife.org to tell us what you’ve seen.