Puffin numbers drop 30% on Farne Islands in 5 years

28/07/2008 12:40:10 Numbers of puffins on National Trust Islands had been steadily increasing for previous 60 years

Results from a three month survey of puffins on the famous Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast, England's largest puffin colony, have shown that the numbers of breeding puffin pairs has fallen by a third in the last five years to 36,500 pairs. The last survey, carried out in 2003, recorded 55,674 pairs of puffins on the Islands.

Unexpected decline
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."

Some colonies down 50%
The puffin count was carried out by the team of nine National Trust wardens across eight of the Islands. All eight Islands showed a decrease in population with four Islands showing a dramatic decrease of up to fifty per cent.

Poor survival rates
David Steel commented: "Extensive monitoring work shows that good numbers of young puffins are successfully fledging each year but it would appear they're just not coming back to the Islands the following years. Presumably fewer birds are surviving overwinter than are needed to maintain current numbers."

Staple Island & Brownsman Island
Staple Island and Brownsman Island, where the majority of puffins can be found, have seen the numbers of breeding pairs fall by more than thirty per cent since the last survey was carried out in 2003. Possible factors behind the decline are not yet properly understood but this dramatic drop in numbers would suggest that there is something happening at sea during the winter, for example, an intensification of storms as a result of our changing climate which could affect the ability of puffins to find food.

John Walton, Property Manager for the Farne Islands and Northumberland coast, said, "In almost thirty years of working with the Farne puffins this is the first downturn in the population I have witnessed. With such a dramatic fall in numbers of breeding puffins on the Islands we need to do some further work to find out why things are changing and whether this is a long term trend. We'll being carrying out sample surveys next year on some of the Islands to build up a more detailed picture of what is happening."

Puffin count	Inner Farne	West Wide Open	Staple Island	Brownsman
2003	13,069	8,704	15,583	14,438
2008	9,813	4,257	10,672	9,015

Records back to the 1930s
Records for the number of breeding pairs of puffins found on the Farne Islands date back to the 1930s but the first detailed count took place in 1969 when there were 6,800 pairs of puffins. The Farne Islands has the largest colony of puffins in England and is the fourth largest colony in the UK.

Puffin counting
The unmistakeable puffin, with its bright beak and slightly comical walk, nests underground in burrows. During the survey, which began in May, the wardens put their own arms into holes to make sure that the nests are occupied.

Wider declines
Professor Mike Harris, Emeritus Research Fellow at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, who has studied puffins for thirty-six years on the Isle of May, in the Firth of Forth in Scotland, said: "The dramatic decline on the Farnes along with that found earlier this year on the Isle of May leaves no doubt that the North Sea has lost a substantial proportion of its puffins. With poor survival of adult birds a likely factor in the decline we urgently need to know more about puffins during the eight months of the year that they spend in the open sea."