Puffin at Sumburgh Head, Shetland

Puffin at Sumburgh Head, Shetland

Although it’s late in the season, there were still plenty of puffins at Sumburgh Head earlier this week.

Puffins are members of the Auk family. These comical birds are usually around in Scotland for several months a year, from March or early April to late July or early August. They spend this time nesting and raising their young in burrows in the ground. They mate for life, and return to the same burrow each year.

Shetland is home to around one fifth of the Scottish population of puffins – there are around 125,000 birds nesting on the islands over the summer months. At Sumburgh head, the RSPB have installed a ‘puffincam‘ in one of the burrows. We were able to watch a young one hatching out, on film.

It’s the first time I’ve seen them close up – I was bowled over by their antics!

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