First puffling sighting in three decades gives hope for Dorset’s dwindling puffin colony - National Trust

A rare glimpse of a young puffin emerging from its nest has given conservationists fresh hope for the future of Dorset’s dwindling puffin population.

For the first time in 30 years, volunteers monitoring the puffin colony in Purbeck have a confirmed sighting of a puffin fledgling – known as a puffling – on the cliffs near the National Trust’s Dancing Ledge.

The puffling was peeping out from a deep crevice on the sheer cliff, where the last breeding colony of puffins on mainland England’s south coast is clinging to survival. The sighting followed more than 15 weeks of monitoring by the volunteers as they watched the adult puffins courting, mating, carrying nesting material and, since late-May, repeatedly delivering fish to the nests hidden deep within the crevice.

The monitoring project is being led by Dr Richard Caldow, who holds a PhD in seabird ecology and has nearly 40 years’ experience researching and conserving coastal bird populations through roles with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and Natural England. He is supported by volunteers from the Purbeck Natural History Forum.