Puffin

Sometimes referred to the ‘sea parrot’ the puffin is instantly recognisable from its brightly coloured parrot-like bill. Spending winter at sea, every year thousands of puffins return to the UK to nest in their little hobbit-like burrows in the ground.

Puffins are loyal to one another, each year mating with the same bird and producing one chick. This one chick, known as a puffling, keeps its parents busy though fishing to keep it well-fed and satisfied. Their favourite meal is sand eel which they catch by diving and swimming using their wings.

The puffin is black above, with a white belly and cheeks, a large, multicoloured bill, and orange, webbed feet.