Thursday 24 May 2018

In a Puffin of Smoke?


The Farne islands, off Northumberland, have along been a favourite location to view Puffin colonies. There is now, however, serious concern, that if trends continue, these birds will disappear entirely from this location (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/24/fears-puffins-die-out-farne-islands-numbers-plummet). Workers have tentatively linked the bird's rapid decline to climate change (which would re-locate their normal diet of sand eels) but other factors like taking the sand eels to make fertiliser for agriculture or to feed salmon in Scottish salmon farms may also play a role. Even marine plastic litter can find its way into the equation as this is sometimes fed to chicks.

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