Puffins could disappear from Yorkshire’s east coast, warns new study by the British Trust for Ornithology

Numbers of puffins could plunge by as much as 90% by 2050 because of changes in the marine environment caused by rising temperatures.

A new study from the British Trust for Ornithology revealed this depressing statistic if global warming is not checked.

With their comical gait and brilliantly coloured breeding season bills, puffins are among the most popular sights in the UK’s coastal nature reserves.

But increasing water temperatures are having a negative impact on sandeel numbers in British waters, the small fish which are their main prey species – meaning that the breeding productivity of the puffins is being adversely affected.

According to the BTO report, this is also affecting other seabirds such as the kittiwake.

BTO CEO, Professor Juliet Vickery, said: “This could represent a loss of over a million birds.

“There is a very real chance that our grandchildren may never know what it is like to see a puffin in Britain and Ireland.

“If we are to hold onto our important bird populations then we need governments to make the right decisions for nature and the climate at COP26, and to invest in real action towards meeting these commitments.”

Dr James Pearce-Higgins, director of science at BTO and author of the report, said, “This new analysis reveals that, overall, one in five UK bird species will be affected by climate change.

“It is not just our seabirds that will be impacted; we will lose some of our best-loved summer visitors too.

“Once familiar migrants, such as cuckoo and spotted flycatcher, have already seen their breeding populations more than halved during the last 25 years.”