The First Time I Saw: Where are the clowns?

I made my way carefully along the coastal path. It was a beautiful July afternoon: the cerulean sky stretched hazily away to the east and the bright summer sunshine sparkled on the gently rolling waters of the North Sea. But a gusting wind kept me from venturing too close to the 30-metre high cliffs that fell away to dark and dangerous rocks below. It was a tricky business trying to concentrate on taking a safe route while absorbing the extraordinary spectacle about me. It was like an avian airport. The sight and sound (and smell!) of thousands of seabirds coming and going, wheeling and circling, shrieking and braying, was breathtaking.

I was at RSPB Fowlsheugh, in southern Aberdeenshire. It was July 2022, and it had taken me a couple of hours to get to the reserve from the campsite I was staying at just outside Carnoustie. This was my first experience of a substantial seabird colony in the UK. I had already seen kittiwakes and razorbills and guillemots, all species I had never seen before. It was wonderful to watch them in such large numbers and at such close quarters. But there was another bird that I really had my heart set on spotting, so I kept scouring the cliffs hopefully.

And then I saw them. Just two at first. Smaller than I was expecting. They looked rather dumpy perched on a ledge, gazing out to sea with an expression that was both mournful and quizzical. If Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp had been reincarnated as a bird, he would surely have been a puffin. And that wonderfully shaped and striped bill! What on earth was it doing on a seabird? I fought to hold my binoculars steady so I could enjoy my first sighting of this iconic clown of the sea.

I’ve seen puffins twice since then, at two other stunning RSPB reserves – South Stack Cliffs in North Wales and Mull of Galloway in south west Scotland. Spotting them always makes my heart smile. But not quite as broadly as it did at that first meeting, on one of my most magical and memorable birdwatching days ever.