The Puffin

ummer is the perfect time for a trip to the coast, and keen birdwatchers should definitely consider visiting the nature reserves at Bempton Cliffs and Flamborough Cliffs, a few miles south of Scarborough.

Both locations are famed for their huge seabird colonies – Bempton alone provides lodgings for half a million birds –but their most striking and best-loved summer residents are undoubtedly the puffins.

With their black-and-white plumage, orange legs and attention-grabbing multicoloured bills, there’s no mistaking puffins for any other bird. Despite their diminutive size – they measure less than 30cm beak-to-tail and weigh no more than a wood pigeon – they are remarkably tough, spending the winter months at sea and ranging as far north as the Arctic Circle.

Puffins arrive in the UK in spring to breed, returning to chillier waters with their new offspring in mid-August. They nest on grassy clifftops in metre-long burrows lined with grass and feathers. Each female lays a single egg, which the parents take turns to incubate.

When the chick has hatched the adults are kept busy fetching food, which consists mainly of sand eels and sprats. Usually they catch their prey close to the surface, but when needs be these remarkable little birds can dive to depths of 50 metres!