Puffin numbers still dropping
PUFFIN numbers returning to the Bailiwick to breed have been dropping in recent years, according to the Alderney Wildlife Trust people and wildlife officer.
In 2016 the number of puffins breeding in the burrows on Burhou was 97, which reduced to 93 last year.
Claire Thorpe said the main reasons behind the decline were changing climate and sea temperature.
‘We are at the bottom of their range so as their food goes north to colder water they will travel further north, it’s a small colony anyway here,’ she said.
Islanders have been urged to help the puffins by throwing less waste, such as plastic, in the sea and eating sustainable fish to make sure the puffin’s food resources are not used up.
Sailors have also been asked to reduce their speed and stay at least 100m from the colony to cut the disturbance as it affects the puffins’ feeding behaviour.
Ornithologist Vic Froome said the main thing islanders could do was to leave them be as birds in general are sensitive to disturbance around them.
Puffin numbers were increasing up until stormy weather killed thousands of sea birds and Mr Froome said the current situation must take this in to account.
‘The puffins are stable.
‘There’s not as many as we’d like but they are stable,’ he said.
‘When you’re talking about nature, five or ten years is a very short time.
‘When you have an event where thousands of birds die it’s going to take a long time to regroup.
‘It’s not all doom and gloom.’
Puffins will start to lay their eggs, which are likely to hatch at the end of April, before returning to sea in July.
