Get To Know the Puffin
Puffins are masters of the sea and the sky. They can flap their wings up to 400 times per minute hitting speeds of up to 88 km per hour. They can dip below the waves to depths of 60 meters to hunt. While they spend most of the winter out at sea, you can spot them in coastal areas of the UK beginning in late spring.
Key Facts:
Scientific Name: Fratercula Arctica
Bird Family: Auks
Diet: Fish, especially Sand Eels
Population: Global: 12-14 million
Measurements: Length: 26-29 cm Wingspan: 47-63 cm Weight: 320-480g
Conservation Status and Threats
The Puffin is listed on the Red list of UK birds of conservation concern. Puffins live a long life —about 20 years! Puffins don’t start breeding until they are 5-6 years old with each mating pair only laying one egg per year. This means that it can take many years for a population to recover from a threat. The main threats to Puffins include:
• Impacts of climate change – sea surface temp and associated shifts in prey
• Distribution and quantity of the small fish they feed on
• Oil spills and other marine pollution
How can you help?
• Support sustainable fishing practices
• Support recycling programs that can decrease ocean pollution
• Volunteering- from encouraging others to protect our precious species to taking part in surveys.
Nesting and Breeding Habits
Puffins begin to return to their nesting sites in early spring to lay their egg. They like to make their nests by burrowing into the soil. If soil isn’t available, they may also make their nests under rocks, in rabbit burrows, or in the cracks of a cliff. After 30 to 45 days, a baby Puffin — a Puffling — will hatch. The parents will care for it for about 60 days until it learns to fly.
When and Where to See Them
You can find Puffins in their breeding colonies all over the UK and Ireland from March to mid-August. One of the best places to spot them is at the RSPB Bempton Cliffs Reserve on the Yorkshire coast.
How You Can Help
You can help the Puffin thrive by supporting sustainable fishing practices and using recycling programs that can decrease ocean pollution.
Volunteer: RSPB Volunteering Program
Donate: RSPB Donation Page
About The Artist
Doaly is a UK-based graphic designer and digital illustrator with a passion for storytelling. His work is characterised by his bold conceptual approach to illustration and his ability to adapt his style to the most sympathetic to the subject matter.
Over the years he has created artwork for a wide range of clients including the BBC, Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Marvel Comics, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Wired, Sony Playstation, Image Comics and Lionsgate
Follow Doaly:
Portfolio: doaly.com
Instagram: @_doaly
About Our Partner
The RSPB is the UK’s largest nature conservation charity, working locally in the UK, and around the world. Our vision is a shared world where wildlife, wild places, and all people thrive. We act by protecting and restoring habitats, saving species, and helping to end the nature and climate emergency.
Nature is in crisis. Together we can save it.
For all licensed Products sold by Historiart, Historiart will donate a minimum of £10,000 per annum to RSPB Sales Ltd, which gives all its distributable profits through Gift Aid to the RSPB.
Manufactured under licence from RSPB Sales Limited to raise awareness of the RSPB (charity registration in England and Wales no 207076 and Scotland no SC037654).