Have you ever seen a puffin? Did you know Yorkshire is one of the only places in the country you don’t have to get a boat to see one?
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s annual puffin festival is back for a seventh year on 7th and 8th June, with its largest and wildest events programme yet.
Visitors to North Landing at Flamborough that weekend can enjoy;
- Peering at puffins as part of a guided walk;
- New magical guided walks at dawn and dusk, the perfect time to listen to the cacophonous dawn chorus and hopefully spot the reserve’s resident barn owls;
- Boat trips by traditional fishing coble to discover the rugged coastline and watch our seabirds from a different angle;
- Workshops run by The Deep and the HEYSmile Foundation
- Brand new photography sessions with Sean Jones Photography – if you’ve ever wanted to get good photos of our cliff-dwelling puffins and other seabirds, now is your chance!
- A Puffin Creation Station with Thread and Press, making puffin puppets;
- Storytelling with Mud Pie Arts about Perry the puffin and his friends;
- Meeting Cliff – our giant cuddly puffin mascot! Why not give his seabird challenge a go – can you spit like a fulmar?
This year the Trust are also running an online competition, with one lucky winner embarking on a fantastic distillery tour supplied by Spirit of Yorkshire.
Puffins are one of our most recognisable birds. These quirky black and white birds have bright orange legs and webbed feet, with a chunky, colourful blue, red and yellow bill that’s brightest at this time of year.
The cliffs from Filey to Bridlington are home to the largest mainland seabird breeding colony in the UK, including 3,000 puffins. June is the perfect time to see puffins on the cliffs, accessible just a short walk along a clifftop path from North Landing. They’ve returned after spending the winter at sea, found their lifelong mate and stay for just a few weeks from late spring to raise their puffling (a baby puffin).
David Craven, East Regional Manager for Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said:
“The return of puffins to Flamborough Cliffs is one of my favourite times of year, and a spectacle I think everyone should enjoy at least once! They’re such characterful birds with their bright beaks and tuxedo-like markings, whizzing to and from the cliffs, such a joyous sight to see – and a fantastic and accessible way to get into wildlife-watching more broadly.
"Our events programme at Puffin Festival this year is the biggest yet, and we are delighted that so many organisations are coming together to help us celebrate our amazing Yorkshire seabirds – and to give them the vital support they need.
"As the North Sea warms, our puffins are having to travel further and further to find sand eels – their main food source, which is only found in cooler water. Although the colony at Flamborough is holding steady at the moment, it is only a matter of time if things don’t change before we start to see our puffins struggling.
"These wonderful birds need our help, through protection of their fishing grounds and food supply to their fragile marine habitat, so we’ll be helping people to find out take action over the weekend too.”
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust work as part of the North Seas Wildlife Trusts to campaign for greater protection at sea; from working with fishermen and other maritime organisations to reduce plastic pollution on land, to advocating at a regional and national level for better and more Marine Protected Areas to create a space for wildlife to flourish out at sea.
Yorkshire Puffin Festival is generously funded and supported by Wykeland, Haven Holidays, and the Do It for East Yorkshire Community Grant Fund. Some activities including the boat trip require pre-booking, but there will be lots happening to drop-in or book on the day. The festival Puffin HQ to find out more will be based at North Landing, where parking and refreshments are also available.
