Couzens Dominic - The Secret Lives of Puffins

Acknowledgements

Mark Sisson Although wildlife photography as a profession is by its very nature often a solitary business, there are several people and organisations I need to thank for their help in making the portfolio of images in this book a reality.

The first of these is my wife Caroline who, along with the rest of my family, puts up with my long absences in the pursuit of my work and supports me in the process. Thanks to all who have joined me on a number of the trips involved, specifically fellow photographers Danny Green and Paul Hobson who have also provided advice and inspiration at the times when it was needed, and Kevin Treadwell who has helped me out when additional photographic kit became a necessity beyond my budgets! Also all involved with the management of Skomer Island and Fair Isle Bird Observatory where over a number of years I have stayed and spent many days and weeks with your puffin colonies. Finally to those who manage the conservation at the many other colonies in the UK, Iceland, Ireland and Norway where I have done the same: without your work the many pressures on puffins would have a greater toll.

Dominic Couzens I thank my wife Carolyn and children Emmie and Sam for keeping me sane while earning a living as a writer. Thanks to Lisa Thomas for believing in this project, and to Mark Sisson for re-establishing a friendship that began at school.

THE PUFFIN

The Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) is a small seabird with an outsize, brightly coloured bill and orange legs. It belongs to a family known as the Auks (Alcidae), along with 20 or more other species, of which five others, the Guillemot (Uria aalge), Razorbill (Alca torda), Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle), Little Auk (Alle alle) and Brnnichs Guillemot (Uria lomvia) also breed in Europe, often in the same locations as puffins. Its world breeding range encompasses the North Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America, hence the name. There are two other species of puffin, the Horned Puffin (Fratercula corniculata) and the Tufted Puffin Fratercula cirrhata), both of which occur on the Pacific coast of North America and Asia. They are not covered in this book.

For a seabird, the Atlantic Puffin is diminutive. It stands just 1820cm tall (78in), which is about as tall as a paperback novel, and it is 2629cm (1011.5in) long from the tip of its bill to the end of its short, pointed tail. By comparison, a guillemot is 46cm (18in) long and a herring gull up to 60cm (24in) long. The puffin weighs between 350 and 600g, while the herring gull weighs up to 1500g. Seeing these figures it is easily understandable how puffins can be bullied by herring gulls and other birds.

In terms of colour and pattern, almost everybody knows what a puffin looks like. If you stop to think about it, this fact is quite surprising, because not many people have ever actually seen a puffin in the flesh. It lives during the summer in remote places that are often hard to get to, and in the winter it disappears out to sea. So it isnt as though the puffin is a well-known, back garden kind of familiar neighbour. The truth is that most of us only know it second hand. But the puffin has such a singularly unusual shape and colour that it captures the imagination.