Puffins this way, no that way, no this way…

Puffins this way.

Puffin - The Hall fo Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

That’s what the sign says.

Except the Puffins are going this way and that way in a dizzyingly busy parade. Here’s one heading out:

Puffin - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

I love their fluffy little underwings.

Puffin - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

And the way they bend their bright orange toes back to make themselves more streamlined.

Puffin - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Photographs don’t do them justice. It’s hard to believe they’re just the size of a pigeon with an oversized head. They also look elegant in some flight photographs, as if flying is effortless for them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Flying is a real effort and they have to flap their wings madly to keep aloft.

We watch them heading out. Then we watch them heading in again.

Puffin - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

This one has had a successful fishing expedition. Those aren’t sand eels, though, they are much larger fish. I’ve submitted one of this bird and its fish-full beak to the RSPB’s Puffarazzi project to monitor the species’s health. It’s a great citizen science project.

Puffin - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Since we’ve been taking a million tonnes of sand eels from the North Sea every year recently, mainly for fertiliser or fish-food for farmed salmon, Puffin food is in short supply.

How do you feel about us starving Puffins to make salmon farmers larger profits?

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