Puffins: Seabirds bred off County Down filmed for first time

Footage of a puffling – a baby puffin – bred on the Copeland Islands off the County Down coast has been captured for the first time.

The seabirds, synonymous with Rathlin Island off County Antrim, are not indigenous to the uninhabited Lighthouse Island, so no population existed there until an introduction scheme was launched around 2013.

There are now around 30 breeding pairs of puffins, which is being seen as a real success story.

They arrive to the island each April, and this year – in fact, just last month – trail cameras near their burrows in the ground filmed a young puffling out of its burrow, and an adult puffin bringing fish back to feed its young.

Attempts to attract puffins to Lighthouse Island included setting up fake “decoy” puffins, and a solar powered speaker system broadcasting its call.