Last weekend I was lucky enough to see puffins for a second time this year, this time on the Shetland Islands. Here they are known as “Tammie Norries,” probably because in the old scots language a tammie norrie is foolish looking man. They are also known as clowns of the sea, because of their clown like eyes.
Puffins only come onto land to reunite with their partners and breed. Once a pair’s single “puffling” has fledged they return to the sea and have nothing more to do with their offspring. With it being the end of July there were hardly any puffins left and most burrows were now empty again. However there were a couple of dozen still at Sumburgh Head in the far south of Shetland.
This Tammie Norrie was having a good old preen and was certainly living up to its nickname!
I visited Hermanes nature reserve on Unst at the very north end of Shetland. This family were taking photographs on the edge of a cliff. I thought they were photographing the sea birds dotted on the sea stacks opposite them.
I gingerly made my way down towards them and was delighted to find that puffins were the main attraction. Here there were many more than at Sumburgh, a veritable circus of them!
At one point a great skua (known as a bonxie in Shetland) flew towards them and scores of puffins all took off into the air. What a sight that was. Unfortunately I couldn’t quite capture it in focus. It took a lot of out of focus shots before I eventually managed to get this single puffin in flight.
Next year I may try to visit a puffin colony in the middle of their breeding season, rather than at either end of it. I can never tire of tammie norries.
Sarah's Wildlife Watch 