Well, that's our last large event of the summer by with. Our first Puffin Party took place in 2009 (the year when we wondered whether it may be a Nuffin Party, as they'd all disappeared for a few days), and this year we brought it forwards by a week or so. The main ideas of the event at Sumburgh Head is to celebrate puffins and other seabirds and to encourage folk to come and see them before they depart for a winter at sea. In the morning, we had around 200 passengers from a cruise ship stop by and throughout the day we had a good numbers of families come along. Thanks to all the helpers and people who came along, but particular thanks must go to Mary and Tom (AKA mom and dad) and Sharon and Sarah for doing the children's activities. Face painting is ever popular (Spiderman and tigers appear to be favourites), and the pompom puffins and mootie maalies (small fulmars) were a work of genius.
Thanks to a phone call from a lady in Oxfordshire, I've been prompted to tell you that although the Date With Nature officially comes to an end on Aug 8th the cameras will remain in place until the puffins depart. We couldn't take them away without seeing how the story ends could we? And what a story it has been to date! The first big scene was the sighting of the egg back at the beginning of May. And then there were the 40ish days of incubation. Can you remember the worry when the egg appeared to be abandoned? The next big scene in the puffincam story was, of course, the hatching on June 15th. We've heard of folk having wee parties on that day. Since then there's been scenes of tenderness between parent birds and the chick, visits from cheeky rabbits, viscious attacks from ASBO puffin(s), centipede snacks, and a lot of sleeping, sighing and shuffling. One of my favourite bits is when the chick pops out to the entrance to do its business, then zooms back to the centre of the burrow - like one of those toy cars that you pull back and release. There's been so many magic moments, like today when I found myself smiling at the screen in the Engine Room, watching as a parent gently preened the youngster, taking away some of the fluffy feathers. It's been a privilege to have a season of secrets revealed.
Unfortunately, the fact that the chick is still here is not a good sign. Yes, it's lovely that we get to watch it a while longer, but really it should have fledged by now. If this had been a good year (in terms of enough decent fish being fed to the youngsters) our chicks would have fledged around the 20th July. Puffincam chick, however, is still quite downy and rather small. We've seen a few puffin chicks come to their burrow entrances and venture outside in daylight hours. This is a sign that they are hungry and thus vulnerable to predation. I saw a herring gull make a failed swoop on one during the Puffin Party.
It's been a mixed season for our seabirds, some (like shags) have done well but many have failed to bring out any young at all, like our Mousa terns. The Puffin Party kind of marks the end of summer for me (although there's stil lots of summery things to do, like watching the fulmar chicks dotted around the cliffs of Sumburgh Head). Through nature I can see and hear that autumn is announcing herself. A week or so ago I watched a flock of 140 common gulls (peerie maas they're called here) start their migration to Fair Isle and beyond, flocks of shalders (oystercatchers) and other waders like whimbrel are grouping together, calling and passing through, and the harbour (common) seals on Mousa are hauling out to moult.
Keep on watching puffincam. We just don't know when they will go.
All the best from 60North