Motorists in North Berwick in East Lothian have been warned to check under their cars for disorientated young puffins – known as pufflings. The Scottish Seabird Centre said that the young birds regularly wandered into town by mistake after leaving their burrows for the first time, settling beneath cars looking for somewhere dark to hide.
Tom Brock OBE
Chief Executive
Scottish Seabird Centre
Staff at the centre explained that puffins around Scotland’s coast will shortly leave their breeding burrows and return to the sea. However, some of the young birds become disorientated and, in previous years, local people have been alerted to to the risk of lost pufflings. One was found wandering along a corridor in North Berwick’s Marine Hotel while another was found under a vehicle in a supermarket car park.
The centre’s chief executive, Tom Brock appealed for drivers in North Berwick and the surrounding area to be vigilant and to contact the Seabird Centre or the Scottish SPCA if they discover a lost puffling. “This is a key time of year for our puffins as they head out to sea after the breeding season,” he said. “However, as pufflings literally fly the nest, their parents leave for sea without them. The young can become disorientated and head into town.
“My request to people along in and around North Berwick to look under your car – you may find a cute young puffin. Puffins are wonderful seabirds and an important part of our marine ecology. They are also very popular and an important part of Scotland’s growing wildlife tourism economy.”