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Sunday, 14 July 2019

A circus of puffins


Equally dubiously reliably, Google reckons that a group of puffins can be termed 'a circus', which, if true, surely refers to their rather comical appearance: short-legged, round-bellied and with that amazing technicolour beak. They were harder to spot at Bempton, as they nest in burrows and cracks in the cliff face. Occasionally we saw them whizzing around like little mechanical toys. They fly really fast. We saw a few more round the headland at Flamborough, where the cliffs are sandier and easier to burrow in to. 

The photos below are heavily cropped so they are a little bit fuzzy. Puffins are quite small birds and these were a fair distance away. Incidentally, I learned their offspring are called pufflings. Sweet... 



We also spotted some grey seals resting on the rocks below the headland. All things considered, it was a super day out!


6 comments:

  1. Everybody loves puffins! I'm always impressed by the way they manage to carry half a dozen or so sand eels in their beaks. Not only comical but clever too!

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  2. Me too, gotta love 'em. And when I see a photo of seals, I never know if they are just sleeping or dead...so glad to know those bodies all strewn around are resting. You captured puffins pretty well to my taste.

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  3. So adorable! Like little bird-hobbits with their flower-bedecked burrows. And pufflings! I swoon . . .

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  4. The puffins are wonderful, Jenny!

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  5. Your third shot really stands out. We have puffins on our east coast- they're the provincial bird of Newfoundland and Labrador.

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