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Puffins return to the Calf of Man

Tue, 13 Jul 2021

Manx National Heritage and Manx Wildlife Trust have today confirmed the return of Puffins to the Calf of Man.  

One method to encourage investigation by visiting puffins is to install lifelike puffin manikins as decoys. To this end, in 2015, an ‘Adopt a Puffin’ scheme was launched by MWT, where members of the public could adopt one of 100 decoy puffins to be positioned on the Calf.

In early 2016, the decoys were distributed between two sites, near the lighthouses at Kione ny Halby, a location where puffins had historically nested. Puffins tend to nest in big groups, so the decoys act as a seed colony. To help make the decoys as realistic as possible, a speaker system (kindly funded by The Manx Ornithological Society) was placed on the east coast site.  The speakers play out the sound of puffin calls to help attract the juvenile puffins in from the sea to prospect the area. It is a slow process to attract puffins since it takes 5 or more years for them to reach sexual maturity and to start prospecting for burrows in readiness for breeding.  So MNH and MWT are delighted to report early signs of potential success of this decoy colony. 

On 6th July this year, a group of kayakers saw and photographed two puffins at Kione ny Halby, with one snuggling up to the decoys. Rob Fisher, Volunteer Assistant Bird Warden on the Calf of Man, went to investigate and managed to observe and photograph a puffin with nesting material in its mouth. This is a positive sign that they may be breeding on the Calf, after an absence of over 30 years. Hopefully, this is the start of many more puffins returning and we will hear their cries again, but for real this time.

Steve Blackford, Interim Director of Manx National Heritage said:“We are absolutely delighted to see the Puffins return.  It's been 30 years since puffins have bred on the Calf of Man, and through our 'long tail' (brown rat) eradication programme and subsequent puffin project managed in conjunction with Manx Wildlife Trust, it's looking positive for breeding pairs on the Calf once again. 

We now need your help to keep them safe.  We know lots of people will want to visit the Calf in the hope of spotting these fabulous birds but we ask that you are extra vigilant and stick to the marked paths on the Calf to help protect the puffins and the other ground nesting birds on the Island nature reserve”. 

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