Seeing Puffins in the wild is a magical experience. I’ve always loved these shy little birds with brightly coloured beaks, but I’d never been fortunate enough to see any in the wild until recently. With their pale cheeks and wide eyes they always appear a little worried looking and that’s not surprising considering the numbers of Puffins in Europe are declining at an alarming rate.
Seeing Puffins in the wild just off Herm Island in the Channel Islands was fantastic. On a day trip out on my friend’s boat we saw 4 Puffins quite close by. One flew off the cliffs and circled around our boat. 3 others were sitting bobbing in the water close to the rocks. My friend switched his engine off and we drifted silently for a while watching them from a distance so we didn’t frighten the birds.
One of the Puffins was clutching a tasty looking beakful of sand eels – apparently this is a delicacy for these tiny birds. He certainly seemed happy with his catch and I was so happy to see Puffins in the wild. Now I’m tempted to head off to Iceland where one of the world’s largest breeding populations of Puffins can be found. If you are as keen as I am to see lots of these beautiful little birds, then you might want to head North to Iceland.
Alternatively check out Iceland’s new Puffin Cam to see what these cute creatures are up to. Or for more info about the protection of Puffins visit the RSPB website.
('Puffin Spotter Cassie Zoro' copyright Nick Waite; 'Puffin image' copyright Wikipedia)
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