Thousands of puffins have been counted on one of Scotland’s most important seabird islands to see how the species is faring amid fears the population has declined.
The “puffin census” on NatureScot’s Isle of May National Nature Reserve (NNR) in the outer Firth of Forth was the first since 2024.
The results are expected next month following efficiency checks and analysis.
The Isle of May is home to the third biggest population of Atlantic puffins in the UK, after St Kilda and the Shiants.
Puffins recently reunited with their lifelong partners on the “Jewel of the Forth” after spending the last seven months at sea.
Thousands of pairs are now incubating single eggs in their annual burrows across the island.
A team of NatureScot and UKCEH (UK Centre Ecology and Hydrology) staff spent a week counting every occupied burrow on the island.
The last census identified more than 52,000 pairs, but a major wreck of seabirds in Europe in February has led to fears of a decline.
Reserve manager David Steel said: “It’s been an epic week. The entire puffin population on the Isle of May has been counted.
“Every blade of grass and rock surface has been covered and checked to find nesting puffins.”
The UK holds around 10% of the world’s Atlantic puffin population, with around 5 million of the birds.
The population on the Isle of May peaked in 2003 with over 68,000 pairs.
The species then suffered a dramatic decline and in 2015 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) upgraded its status from “least concern” to “vulnerable”.
By 2017 the number on the Isle of May had dropped by more than 30% to 39,000 pairs.
Populations appeared to stabilise and the next full count on the island, two years ago, showed a 33% increase to 52,000 pairs.
However, recent challenging weather led to tens of thousands of seabird deaths and reports in February suggested Atlantic puffins had suffered one of the biggest “wrecks” in the last decade.
Thousands of birds washed up on beaches in France, Spain and Portugal, likely including some from the Isle of May.
