Craigleith South Web Cam

Craigleith is a small island less than 1/2 mile (0.8 kilometres) from the Seabird Centre at North Berwick where a rich variety of seabirds and marine life can be seen. Once one of the largest puffin colonies in Britain with over 28,000 pairs in 1999, numbers have crashed dramatically on Craigleith to just a few thousand. This has been caused by an alien plant invasion of tree mallow (Lavatera arborea), a giant woody plant which grows up to 6 feet (1.8 metres) tall, choking the puffin burrows and preventing the birds from nesting and rearing their chicks, called “pufflings”.

We're delighted to say that the puffin burrows were occupied during the nesting season (April-July) last year, thanks to the efforts of SOS Puffin, a five year project to reinstate the puffins on Craigleith, managed by the Scottish Seabird Centre and funded by Viridor Credits. Following a massive team effort this year again by 150 volunteers during winter, the puffins are again making a return to the island to rear their pufflings.

SOS PUFFIN

With funding from Viridor Credits, the Seabird Centre set up SOS Puffin in January 2007, to save the Craigleith puffins from extinction. The SOS Puffin team of over 100 volunteers works throughout the year (outwith the breeding season), carefully clearing areas of tree mallow.  The Seabird Centre is an independent charity and all donations and sponsorships are reinvested into its education and conservation programmes. To find out more about the campaign, go to SOS Puffin. You can also click here to Adopt a Puffin online which will help support the charity. Check out our news section for updates and if you’re interested in volunteering for SOS Puffin email us on info@seabird.org.