Puffins return to the Firth of Forth see them on the Seabird Centre boat trips

The team at the Scottish Seabird Centre have spotted puffins returning to islands in the Firth of Forth on their live cameras for the first time this year. An important site for seabirds, the Forth is home to the largest colony of breeding puffins on the East Coast of Scotland, the Isle of May, as well as one of the world’s largest colonies of Northern gannets on the Bass Rock. This first sighting is an exciting and hopeful reminder that the seabird breeding season is about to begin, particularly after a rough and stormy winter that saw thousands of dead puffins washing up on coastlines around Europe.

The colourful seabirds were seen on the water close to Craigleith island, on the Scottish Seabird Centre's interactive live cameras. Craigleith is an important site for puffins and has seen a recent boost in breeding pairs thanks to the work of the Charity's award-winning project, SOS Puffin. Lead by the Scottish Seabird Centre, and in partnership with RSPB and the Lothian Sea Kayak Club, SOS Puffin has been taking volunteer work parties onto the islands of Craigleith, the Lamb and Fidra in the Firth of Forth, for the past 19 years. The work parties remove invasive plants, called tree mallow, which can prevent puffins from reaching their nesting burrows.

Thanks to the hard work of over 1350 volunteers since the outset of the project, puffin numbers are now up to around 5000 breeding pairs on Craigleith island alone, marking a great conservation success story. But it remains to be seen how these populations have fared over the winter months.

The Scottish Seabird Centre’s Conservation Manager, Emily Burton, said of the sighting: “I’m delighted that the first puffins of the year have now been spotted around Craigleith! These birds are joyful to see, and we certainly don’t take their presence here for granted given the many threats that seabirds currently face.”

“The race is now on for our conservation team and brilliant volunteers to make sure that the islands are in good shape for returning seabirds, removing litter and invasive plants before the busy breeding season begins.”

“We’ll also be undertaking puffin burrow counts this year, which will give us a clearer picture of how populations in the Forth are faring. This will be particularly important given the number of dead birds that washed up along the coast this winter, causing widespread concern for this iconic species.”

“We hope that, in the face of mounting pressures on seabirds, people will come together this summer to celebrate these remarkable birds, while also recognising the immediate need to protect them. Without urgent action to protect our seas, we risk losing incredible birds like puffins from our coasts forever.”

You can experience the delightful antics of the Firth of Forth's puffins from the Centre’s various boat trips, which begin on the 28th of March, or via their interactive live cameras.

For more information, and booking, head to the Scottish Seabird Centre’s website: www.seabird.org/boats

Image credits and captions:

Puffin in Flight © Jamie McDermaid

High-res images available to download here.

Note these images are free to use for this story only.

ENDS

For further press information:

Jess Thompson, Marketing Manager, email jesst@seabird.org, tel: +44(0)1620 890202.

Notes for editors

The Scottish Seabird Centre is an award-winning marine conservation and education charity whose purpose is to inspire and educate people about the Scottish marine environment and motivate people to care for it by supporting conservation projects.
In May 2025 the Charity celebrated their 25th anniversary of the opening of its Visitor Centre doors to the public and over the years has won multiple awards for tourism and sustainability. It has led a range of high-profile conservation and education projects including the SOS Puffin initiative in the Firth of Forth.
Follow the Scottish Seabird Centre on Facebook/ScottishSeabirdCentre and Instagram @seabirdcentre
For more information on the Scottish Seabird Centre visit www.seabird.org

Background

In the UK, bird species with breeding, passage or wintering populations are assessed by experts and assigned to the Red, Amber or Green lists of conservation concern. Atlantic puffins are currently a ‘RED’ listed species.
Atlantic puffins are also listed as ‘vulnerable’ on the global IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Puffins only return to land for a short period each year to breed, spending most of their lives out at sea.
Seabirds like puffins can struggle to survive during periods of stormy weather, as it makes it harder for them to feed.
Changes to our oceans driven by the climate crisis, threats from disease, and unsustainable fishing practices can all reduce food availability or contribute to these tragic mortalities.
Threats like these will only be compounded if large offshore wind developments, like Berwick Bank, are built near important breeding seabird colonies.

Key Facts about Scotland’s marine environment

Scotland has over 18,000km of coastline, in excess of 900 islands, 61% of the UK total sea area.
The area of Scotland’s seas is about 6 times the land mass of Scotland.
Scotland’s seas support an amazing diversity of wildlife with over 6,500 species recorded.
A third of Europe’s breeding seabirds are found in Scotland.
Seabirds are one of the world’s most threatened groups of vertebrates and one in three species are globally threatened with extinction, including populations of Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) and Black-legged Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) which are enjoyed by visitors to the Firth of Forth.
Important marine species include basking sharks, dolphins, porpoises and seals. About 35% of Europe’s harbour (or common) seal population also occur in UK waters with 83% of these found around Scotland’s coast.
Underneath the water, Scotland supports important marine habitats such as cold-water coral, kelp forests and flame shell beds (an important blue carbon resource).
Our oceans are important natural resource for combatting the effect of climate change. 83% of global carbon cycle is circulated through the world’s oceans and our coastal habitats account for around 50% of the total carbon sequestered in ocean sediments.
Healthy seas, however, have huge potential to provide natural solutions to the climate emergency by locking up carbon and helping the planet to cool.
In the last 50 years we have lost 2% of the oxygen in our oceans as a direct result of climate change, this is already having a devastating impact on our marine eco-systems and if left unchecked will be catastrophic for food security the world over.