It's that time of the year again, no, not the Edinburgh Fringe (although that has also started today) - we're actually referring to puffling season, when endangered baby puffins emerge from their burrows en masse, and often end up getting themselves into sticky situations.
Puffins breed along the Firth of Forth coastline from East Lothian to Fife, and when the young puffins first come out of their dark nests they can end up disorientated by lights coming from the mainland and head to shore.
To help safeguard these baffled birds, the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick is calling on people to keep their eyes peeled for any pufflings that end up in tight spots.
In the past, pufflings have had to be rescued from underneath cars and plant pots in various East Lothian coastal towns- and even a Portaloo. People often don't know what the fluffy birds actually are as they look quite different to adult puffins, and don't get brightly coloured beaks until they reach adulthood.
Scottish Seabird Centre boat guide, James Leyden, explains:
“Puffins and their pufflings are now leaving their burrows not only on the Isle of May and other islands in the Firth of Forth. After leaving their burrows some pufflings can become disorientated by lights from the mainland. Their first ever flight may see them flying into town and seeking somewhere dark to hide from predators often underneath cars and under plants in gardens.
“When we’re notified of their misadventures, we carefully collect the pufflings and take them out to sea and release them, well away from the islands and especially the predator gulls. They then typically swim off into the North Sea where they will live for the next three years.
“It is important to note that pufflings look completely different from their adult counterparts. People often don’t realise what they can see is a puffling! They are shades of grey, white and black; their smaller beaks don’t have the characteristic bright colours that the adults have in summer.”
The puffin is red-listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as it is globally vulnerable and declining in numbers.
If you spot a puffling, please immediately alert the Scottish Seabird Centre on 01620 890202 or the Scottish SPCA on 03000 999 999.
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