The birds return to land, but it doesn't all go smoothly
The puffins returned to land this year on Thursday 2nd April – amid much drama as a buzzard was seen eating one of the puffins on colony cam! A great black-backed gull managed to scavenge some of the remains, again all seen on camera. While this can be a sad moment for all of us puffin fans, it’s part of the natural cycle of life on a seabird colony (don't forget about our teaching and learning resources on the seabirds, available to all). We obviously hope the same fate does not await more of the puffins given the small size of the Burhou colony. It does show the range of wildlife at home on the islet, with rabbits and other gull species also in the camera frame.
Spring cleaning starts
While all this was going on some of the puffins got down to the important task of repairing any damage to the burrows inflicted over winter. This means digging out any collapsed areas and removing soil and debris that might have washed in. If the puffins are out of shot you might notice clumps of earth flying across the screen as the little birds use their powerful beak and feet to excavate their burrows. They will also be bringing back grass and other plants to make their nest ready for the arrival of a chick.
Many will still be on the water as they come and go from fishing trips, feeding up ready for the breeding season ahead of them.
The action might be a little slow to start with but soon there will be many more puffins on land.
Counting puffins
Colony cam will continue to move, either to carry out surveys or to get the best view of the puffins. April is an important time for the AWT to carry out raft counts of the puffins as they have not yet been joined by non-breeders. The counts now give the best representation of the true number of puffins breeding on Burhou this year.
Look out for other wildlife like oystercatchers and shags as the camera does its afternoon tour at 4pm.
So glad the Puffins and Cams are back 😊
Thanks Debbie! We’re so please with how well they’re working at the moment, fingers crossed that lasts
I have been watching the puffins every day since I discovered your fantastic webcams and I can’t tell you how much pleasure this gives me! We need puffins in these dark, pandemic times! Thank you for letting us see them!
Thank you for this lovely message Christine! We love watching the puffins and we’re so glad you do too – they definitely brighten the day with their clumsy antics
Hi
I’ve checked the cams over the past 5 days and not seen one Puffin. Is there a “best” time of day to catch sight of them?
Hi there, ususally early in the morning or later evening is a good time. We’ve not had loads of activity on land yet this year though, hopefully it’ll be increasing soon
Thank you. I’ve seen them on water now, on the Colony Cam and look forward to seeing them on land. I’ve just read a book on Puffins and hope to learn more from your webcams. Thanks again for providing these cameras. Stay safe and well.
So do we – we will do another blog post when it’s getting busier, hopefully very soon
I have been so excited to see the puffins this year! I was teaching in school yesterday and we had this on in the classroom all day. There was great excitement when the colony cam started panning and zooming and we saw a puffin close up!
Thank you so much!
Thank you Caroline – messages like this are so absolutely lovely to receive! We’re so glad the class is enjoying the puffins, there seems to have been an increase in activity this week – maybe you saw them doing a spot of gardening clearing the burrows!
9th May 2020 – Spotted puffin on land at 9.45 this morning – quite happy until a seagull landed and then it shot down its hole! Very exciting!
Definitely lots of activity suddenly this week – we spotted some of them doing a bit of ‘gardening’ this bank holiday – just like us!
Unfortunately no cam signal today @ 4pm .Today is the first time we had heard of the puffin cams so the wife & I were eager to see them but alas no do .Will try later or tomorrow.
Hope you managed to get some visibility on them, sorry they were down when you first tried – they were back up and running from this morning when I checked and there was lots of activity earlier on too 🙂
Earlier this week, about 8ish in the evening, a greater black ba Jed gull caught a puffin on Colony cam and killed it. Made me feel a bit sad but part of nature. I haven’t seen any since on that camera. Are they still about?
Hi Karen, thanks for letting us know – it certainly is sad when the puffins are predated but as you say it’s a natural thing and hopefully doesn’t happen to too many on the small colony here. There were quite a few on land yesterday at 4pm, haven’t spotted any today yet but they quite often appear in the afternoon – so will keep a lookout!