Monday's Magic Moment: There ain't nuffin' like a puffin!

The next in our series of Monday's Magic Moments from the BBC Springwatch presenters gives Michaela Strachan the chance to wax lyrical about her favourite bird:

Personally I like a bird with a bit of colour. A bird known for it’s character and flair. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the garden birds and give me a glimpse of an eagle and I’ll run for my binoculars with the best of them, but if I was to choose a favourite feathered friend, I’d go for a bird that you’re not going to see on your bird table. I’ll give you a clue:

‘Black and white
Colourful beak
Known as clowns of the air’

Well that should give it away! But if you’re having a senior moment...

‘I love this bird
Can you guess what it is?
It’s name rhymes with..well...nuffin!
A summer visitor
To UK shores
The wonderful, adorable puffin!’
(extract from a book of rhymes I’ve written for children!)

I’ve been lucky enough to see puffins on Skomer Island off the south west coast of Wales. They really are the most extraordinary birds and such fun to watch and on Skomer you can see them in the spring in their thousands. Colourful, clowns of the air, migrants, comical...they say dog owners are like their dogs, does that mean favourite birds are like the birder?? Hmm...glad I didn’t choose a dull one!

Michaela Strachan