Amateur snaps can save puffins

The RSPB is calling on photographers to help save UK puffins.

Numbers of the birds have plummeted in recent years, with scientists predicting more than half will disappear in the next 40 years.

Climate change is thought to be a big factors, impacting puffins’ food supply and threatening their survival.

Experts at the RSPB are asking the public to snap images of the birds as they carry fish to help scientists discover more about what they feed their chicks, their foraging habits and how their numbers are changing.

Once uploaded to the Project Puffin webpage, scientists will analyse the photos to build a picture of what puffins in the UK and Ireland are feeding their pufflings, and perhaps learn more about why some colonies are thriving whilst others struggle.

The RSPB will also use GPS to track puffins to find out where they go to feed, and carry out a puffin census.