Puffins UP!!

Thursday 13^th June Comments: The results are in and WHAT a result. Puffin numbers on the Isle of May are UP since the last full census.

In late April a team of thirteen from two organisations (NatureScot and UKCEH) walked, counted and checked Puffin burrows across the Isle of May and today we can reveal the results. After efficiency checks and number crunching the result shows the Puffin population on the Isle of May National Nature Reserve has increased from 39,000 pairs to 52,000 pairs, an increase of 33% since the last survey in 2017.

This fabulous news was most welcome especially in the current climate where seabirds including Puffins face so many threats and issues. Climate change remains the most serious on a global scale but many other threats remain including over-fishing, marine heatwaves, turbulent weather patterns and even HPAI (avian influenza). So despite the great news with the increase in Puffin numbers, we should remember just how fragile the populations and successes can be in the seabird world. As we will reveal soon, it hasn’t all been good news for our seabirds this season especially for our European Shags and Guillemots.  

Regardless we’ll celebrate the news that our Puffin population has increased since the last full survey in 2017 and we’ll take the positives. We’ll be repeating the survey again in two years time as we are aiming to learn more about the fluctuations in our populations with more frequent surveys.