Wildlife Conservation

Wild Puffin: Climate and Prey Availability

Atlantic puffins are facing severe welfare and population challenges as climate change reduces availability of their primary prey, sand eels, in key breeding areas.

Key Facts

Puffin populations at some UK colonies including Fair Isle have declined by over 30% in a decade
Sand eel availability is declining in the North Sea as warmer waters shift prey distributions northward
Puffin chick survival depends on consistent sand eel delivery during the brief fledging period
Shetland and Orkney have experienced the most severe puffin breeding failures
Industrial sand eel fishing in the North Sea competes with puffin food supply

Welfare Considerations

Puffin welfare is directly threatened by climate change reducing prey availability. Individual puffins that fail to feed their chicks face the welfare cost of raising a chick that dies of starvation - a preventable outcome at the systems level.

What You Can Do

Support RSPB and Joint Nature Conservation Committee seabird monitoring programmes
Advocate for sand eel fishery restrictions in key puffin feeding areas
Report puffin observations to seabird monitoring schemes to track population trends