JERSEY’S puffin colony has returned to the Island despite previous fears its members had perished in stormy weather earlier this year.
The National Trust for Jersey and the Birds On The Edge conservation group have confirmed that all four pairs of puffins are back at their breeding sites on the north coast – and that at least one puffin chick, or ‘puffling’, has hatched.
Activity was recently detected across the four nesting sites that are home the Island’s small colony, located in the cliffs between the land restored by the National Trust for Jersey at Plémont and Grève de Lecq. A pair of puffins was also seen taking sand eels to one of the nests, indicating that an egg had hatched.
In February, Cris Sellarés – project officer for Birds on the Edge – urged Islanders to look out for struggling sea birds, when several puffins were found dead on Jersey beaches in the wake of bad weather.
‘At the time we thought that if any of them were from our colony then we would be in trouble this breeding season, so we are delighted to see them come back,’ she said.
She added that the return of all eight puffins, as well as their breeding success, suggested they had not been bothered by the giant willow puffin sculptures recently installed at Plémont – or the ‘Arrival of the Puffins’ celebration that was held at the site shortly after.
‘There used to be holiday camps up there and we were confident that it wouldn’t have an impact, so we are happy that our educated guess was correct,’ she said.
Birds On The Edge is also asking Islanders to be mindful of the guidelines of the ‘Seabird Protection Zone’ at Plémont and Grève de Lecq and to not visit the area by boat between March and July in order to avoid disrupting the puffins’ natural behaviours, such as incubation, fishing, or feeding their chicks.
The guidelines are already observed by leisure-boat operators, as well as local fishermen who visit the area to check their pots.
