Surprise fall in puffin numbers

The large drop in puffins at England's largest colony - off the Northumberland coast - has taken conservationists by surprise, as it bucks a long-term trend of increasing numbers of pairs breeding on the British coast.

The three-month survey, in which wardens check if the burrows the puffins use to nest in are occupied by reaching in with their arms, found that numbers had fallen from 55,674 pairs in 2003 to 36,500 pairs this year.

All eight islands surveyed had seen falls in numbers, and on four of them the amount of breeding pairs had dropped by up to 50%, the Trust said.

The falls follow a survey on the Isle of May, in the Firth of Forth, another major breeding site for puffins in the UK, which found numbers had declined from 69,300 to 41,000.

The drop in numbers raises concerns that many birds are not surviving the eight months of the year they spend at sea. Conservationists believe factors such as food scarcity due to overfishing, or an intensification of storms as a result of climate change, make it harder to find food and could be affecting the puffin's survival.

David Steel, National Trust head warden on the Farne Islands, said: "The results from this survey have completely surprised us as we were predicting another rise in the numbers of breeding pairs. Stocks of sandeels, the staple food of puffins in the summer, are in good supply around the islands and there is a lack of ground predators creating a good environment for puffins to breed."

He also said good numbers of young puffins were successfully fledging each year, but it appeared they were not coming back to the islands in following years to breed. "Presumably fewer birds are surviving over winter than are needed to maintain current numbers," he said.

The first detailed count of puffins on the Farne Islands took place in 1969 when there were 6,800 pairs of puffins. The islands, which are visited by more than 43,000 people each summer, have the largest colony of puffins in England and the fourth largest in the UK.

Half the 500,000 breeding pairs of puffins in the UK are found at a handful of sites. They arrive at their breeding colonies in March and April, and leave in mid-August.