Puffins are not declining, they're just hiding from marauding seals, say experts

Puffins are not declining at one of Britain’s most important seabird colonies, they simply moved to different islands to avoid marauding seals, experts have concluded.

Last May the annual puffin count on The Farne Islands in Northumberland found the number of breeding pairs had fallen by 12 per cent, with the the reduction blamed on the harsh winter of 2016, climate change and pollution.

But a reevaluation of the figures has found puffin numbers have actually increased by nine percent.

Rangers discovered that burgeoning populations of grey seals have been accidentally destroying puffin burrows as they shuffle around on the shoreline. Unable to nest on the outer islands, the little seabirds have been driven to the inner isles, where they are thriving.

“A factor for the lower bird numbers on the outer islands could be the success of our grey seal population,” said National Trust ranger, Thomas Hendry.

“We have seen seal pup numbers growing from 1,704 to 2,602 in the last five years.

“A rather unfortunate consequence of this growth is the seals are competing with puffins for areas to raise their young.

“Although the two species are in residence and breed at different times of year, the weight of the seals could be crushing the puffin burrows and eroding surrounding vegetation.”

The final results, which involved checking a proportion of burrows on eight of the 28 island archipelago, show that puffin numbers have stabilised at around 44,000 pairs, nine percent higher since the last count in 2013.

Numbers of puffins on the islands have increased over the past 25 years.  37,710 pairs were recorded in 1993 with numbers peaking at 55,674 pairs in 2003 before a sudden crash in 2008 when numbers dropped by a third, before slowly recovering.

Dr Chris Redfern, Emeritus Professor in the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences at Newcastle University, said: “This is good news and suggests that the population of puffins on The Farne Islands overall is at least stable at the moment.

“However, there are indications of some re-distribution of puffins between different islands so we need to be vigilant to ensure that all islands remain in tip-top condition for this seabird to breed successfully in the future.

“What is positive is that the results suggest that the marine environment off the Northumberland coast can still support good numbers of breeding seabirds, and indicate that these puffin colonies are not showing the declines recorded in colonies further north.”

Puffins have traditionally done well on the Farnes but experts are concerned that climate change pressures will eventually ‘squeeze’ the population, with more and more birds having to travel further for rich feeding grounds and increased frequency of storms in the winter affecting the population at sea.

As a consequence, the Farnes team will now undertake annual puffin surveys to check on the population.

The remote habitat is also home to large numbers of terns, eider ducks, guillemots, kittiwakes and seals. Dolphins are also often spotted between the islands and the mainland.

Harriet Reid, one of the 11 National Trust rangers that live on the islands from March to December, says: “Annual monitoring may help us track numbers against likely causes of population change, whether that’s changes in frequency of storms and summer rainfall as a result of climate change, changes in the sand eel population or something else altogether.

“It’s important that we contribute to the worldwide picture on puffins so that we can dig deeper into trends to really discover more about what are the key factors affecting these special birds – so we know what more we can do to help.

“If the root causes of seabird declines are what we suspect, it will require a bigger effort to prevent overfishing, reduce our use of single use plastics and limit our use of non-renewable energy, but it can be done.”