In Fine Feather

PUFFIN POPULATION IN WALES BUCKS GLOBAL DECLINE

The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales (WTSWW) have announced another record-breaking year, with 43,626 Puffins recorded on their Skomer Island Nature Reserve. Described as a 'conservation success story' the remote island off the Pembrokeshire coast, appears to be acting as a refuge for the birds, which elsewhere are declining so much that they're listed as vulnerable to extinction on the global International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list.

Puffin numbers on Skomer Island have been steadily increasing over recent years, with over 40,000 birds now returning to the island from April to July to breed. Even David Attenborough called the puffin colony "exceptional" when he visited Skomer for the BBC One series 'Wild Isles'. Ordinarily they face pollution, food shortages and climate change, but the WTSWW attributes the current population figures to the abundance of fish in the vicinity for their chicks and the absence of predators such as rats on the island.

However, Skomer Island's visitor officer, Rob Knott, who was one of 6 members of staff who've just helped to count the birds on the land, sea and in the air, warned that there are other threats facing seabirds - including bird flu and the recent marine heatwave conditions being experienced around parts of the UK coastline.

"Although Skomer Island is a conservation success story for puffins, they are a species under threat," said the island's warden Leighton Newman. "We must do all we can to continue to protect them."

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FOOTNOTE: In other news - fishermen on the southwest coast of England have noticed an increase in both the numbers and size of the common octopus, over the past few months. Despite their name, is not usual to to see them in UK waters and although more research is needed, scientists think it could be due to rising sea temperatures or that there aren't as many predators in the water.