Britain’s puffin population soars despite climate fears

THEY’VE been on a ‘red list’ of vulnerable species since 2015.

But puffin numbers at Britain’s largest colony are actually booming – up by almost one tenth over the last five years.

The National Trust last night declared the result of its five-yearly count of the number of the birds in the Farne Islands, off the Northumberland coast.

A 9 per cent growth in numbers – to 44,000 breeding pairs – was recorded despite early fears during the count that the population had fallen. In fact, the birds had become concentrated on the inner Farne Islands – caused by a leap in numbers of grey seals on the outer islands and their tendency to inadvertently crush puffin burrows. The Trust now plans annual counts to monitor the species more closely as it faces challenges including climate change, plastic pollution and availability of its main diet of sand eels. Puffins remain on the British Trust for Ornithology’s red list for species of conservation concern in the UK.