Puffarazzi
Project Puffin (Puffarazzi) submissions are currently closed while we’re busy analysing all your wonderful photographs. To keep up to date with our work, please follow @rspbscience on twitter or follow the hashtag #Puffarazzi.
Project Puffin
Puffins are one of our favourite seabirds, instantly recognisable with their brightly-coloured bills. Sadly, their numbers have plummeted and they're now threatened with global extinction. We think this may be partly down to lack of food, so we need to find out how the food puffins carry in their bills has changed over time.
This was where you came in. We asked you to become part of Project Puffin's team of "Puffarazzi" by sending us photos that you had taken of puffins with food in their bills, from any year and any colony.
In the second phase of Project Puffin, which ran from May 2019 to September 2020, 1085 members of the Puffarazzi submitted a fantastic 3497 photos. We had photos from 59 puffin colonies around the UK. The colony with the most photos submitted was the Farne Islands (1369), followed by the Isle of May (775) and Skomer (676). These photos go back over many years, which will allow us to look at changes over time in the food carried by puffins. The oldest photo we received was taken on Skomer, in 1979!
Our team of Puffineers
Our team of intrepid puffin volunteers, led by Conservation Scientist Ellie Owen, will be spending the year working on Project Puffin. Their work includes identifying and measuring the fish in Puffarazzi photos; working on the science of studying puffin diet; sourcing photos from online galleries and communicating our findings.
Blog
-
Offshore wind – climate cure or seabird struggle?
In the race to reach net zero we must not forget nature, like the puffins and kittiwakes calling our cliffs and seas home. Unfortunately, the technology set to play a vital role in the shift from fossil fuels is being planned in a way that...
Posted 27 Oct 2021 by Samuel Wrobel -
Turning the tide for seabirds
For decades our seas have been subjected to fishing which does not leave enough food for wildlife. Policy Officer Jacques Villemot explains why now is the time to turn the tide for our seabirds including the much loved puffin. The UK is home to ov...
Posted 09 Jul 2021 by Anna F -
Becoming a puffineer and learning to ID fish
Today’s blog is by puffineer, Katie Horton, on her changed plans to work on Puffarazzi and the learning curve involved. My first experience working with the RSPB began last year as a Volunteer Reserves Intern at Loch of Strahbeg where I lived and...
Posted 24 Jul 2020 by Vanessa Amaral-Rogers -
From sandeels to seabirds
Today’s puffin blog has been written by Project Officer Chantal Macleod-Nolan on how food is changing in a warming ocean Atlantic Puffins with their colourful bill and inquisitive nature are quite the charismatic seabird. They are also site...
Posted 11 Jun 2020 by Vanessa Amaral-Rogers -
The parallel lives of puffins
Today’s blog is by Puffineer volunteer, Ali Barrett Before the lockdown in mid-March, I took a boat trip out to the Farne Islands in the hope of saying "hello" and then "goodbye" to the puffins! Sadly, their four-month visit seems likely to conclu...
Posted 27 May 2020 by Vanessa Amaral-Rogers -
Big thanks to everyone who took action on the Environment Strategy for Northern Ireland
Sometimes it’s hard to remember life before Covid-19 (coronavirus), even though it’s only been several weeks since all our lives changed unimaginably. Now, our work/life is unbalanced, lockdown has altered how we connect with friends and family, a...
Posted 12 Apr 2020 by Tabitha N