Puffins
6 places to see and hear puffins in the wild, in 4 countries from Norway to Ireland: when each one peaks, where to go on your own, what it costs and what you will hear. Wild animals only, no zoos.
Best time, place by place
| Spectacle | Country | Peak | On your own? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Runde bird cliffs: puffins at Lundeura | Norway | 15 May – 20 Jul | You can go on your own |
| Hornøya and Gjesværstappan: Arctic seabird cliffs | Norway | 20 May – 15 Jul | Partly on your own |
| Puffin arrival day on Lovund and the Røst colonies | Norway | 1 Jun – 31 Jul and 14 Apr | You can go on your own |
| Seabird cities | United Kingdom | 20 May – 15 Jul | Partly on your own |
| Irish seabird cities: Cliffs of Moher, Great Saltee and the Skelligs | Ireland | 10 May – 30 Jun | Partly on your own |
| Sept-Îles: gannets on Rouzic, puffins and auks | France | 1 May – 15 Jul | Partly on your own |
Where to go, north to south
Runde bird cliffs: puffins at LundeuraKittiwake colonies screaming from the cliffs, puffin growls at the burrows, gannet colony grating from Rundebranden, eagles yelping, surf below; storm petrels purring from stone walls after midnight.
Hornøya and Gjesværstappan: Arctic seabird cliffsA guillemot wall at arm's length: massed growling and trumpeting, kittiwake screaming, puffin grunts, Brünnich's guillemots' lower calls; Arctic surf; at Gjesværstappan the gannet colony's grating and the constant wing-noise of puffins by the hundred thousand.
Puffin arrival day on Lovund and the Røst coloniesThe wing-roar and growling of a puffin colony wheeling over the slope, kittiwakes, eagles; on Røst, Leach's and storm petrels at night; the Atlantic.
Seabird citiesA wall of seabird calls: gannet grating, kittiwakes calling their name, guillemot growls, puffin burrow moans, sea and wind below.
Irish seabird cities: Cliffs of Moher, Great Saltee and the SkelligsThe roar of 20,000 guillemots on the Moher ledges with kittiwakes screaming 'kitti-wake' and fulmars cackling; the Atlantic 200 m below; on Little Skellig the deafening, continuous growl of a gannet city heard over the engine; choughs' ringing calls on the cliff top.
Sept-Îles: gannets on Rouzic, puffins and auksFrance's only gannet colony (about 14,000 pairs on Rouzic) as a wall of grating calls from the boat, puffins and kittiwakes on the sea, and the Atlantic swell against the granite.