MORE than three decades ago, the late Ruth Rendell penned an Inspector Wexford novel entitled An Unkindness of Ravens. That title features our favourite avian collective noun bar one … an improbability of puffins. Could one look at a picture of a puffin, its multi-hued beak stuffed with fish, and not smile? Improbable. Nay, impossible, surely. However, such an image, while uplifting, may become rarer. New research revealed today by the RSPB shows that puffin numbers are in decline.

This summer the charity asked people to send photographs of puffins carrying fish to try to understand what they are feeding their young. More than 1,400 images were sent to the team, including 517 from sites in Scotland. Early results suggest that the diet of these birds vary significantly around the UK – in the northern isles of Orkney and Shetland, where serious declines have been seen, puffins appear to be consistently finding smaller prey compared to most other colonies.

The fact that so many images were submitted – it took the RSPB team of staff and volunteers more than three months to examine them – is an indication of the public’s esteem for these clown-faced entertainers. Their decline is concerning, and it is to be hoped greater understanding of their plight will lead to some form of protective measures being identified.