Fish brought to young Atlantic Puffins Fratercula arctica on Burhou, Channel Islands

Abstract

During the last 100 years breeding numbers of Atlantic Puffins Fratercula arctica (hereafter ‘Puffins’) in the Channel Islands and Brittany, the most southern colonies in the eastern Atlantic, have declined dramatically and in 2000 totalled less than 600 pairs (Harris & Wanless 2004). Most colonies now have trivial numbers and that on Burhou, Alderney, Channel Islands is one of only two remaining probably viable breeding populations south of the English Channel, and is therefore regionally of considerable conservation importance.