PAFFINS

Puffins are colourful and full of character. Playfully known as 'clowns of the sea' and 'sea parrots', these shy and inquisitive seabirds arrive in Britain at the start of the breeding season. They then undergo their annual moult which renders them flightless for a short while, though they remain nimble and elegant underwater. A single puffin chick is raised in an underground burrow and parent birds are often seen with their parrot-like bills packed full of sand eels, intended for their fast-growing offspring. During winter, puffins disperse as far south as the Azores.