Puffins in Yorkshire: Festival to celebrate Yorkshire's 'sea parrots' to be held next weekend

And there is no place better to spot the puffins than the Flamborough Cliffs nature reserve on the county’s coast.

Visitors can enjoy a weekend of activities and events, including puffin-watching, sunset wildlife walks, crafts using marine litter collected from Yorkshire’s beaches and storytelling sessions.

The chalk cliffs from Filey to Bridlington host one of the largest mainland puffin colonies in the UK – 31 per cent of Britain’s puffin population.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust holding its fifth annual puffin festival on Flamborough Cliffs on June 1-2, packed with a weekend of activities to celebrate and help protect one of the nation’s best-loved seabirds.

Visitors to North Landing at Flamborough next weekend can enjoy peering at colourful puffins from the clifftop with expert spotters, or as part of a guided walk.

There is also a magical guided walk at dusk, the perfect time to hopefully spot the reserve’s resident barn owls, as well as boat trips by traditional fishing coble to discover the rugged coastline and watch seabirds from a different angle plus storytelling with Mud Pie Arts about Perry the puffin and his friends.

Puffins are one of Yorkshire’s most recognisable birds. The quirky black and white birds have bright orange legs and webbed feet, with a chunky, colourful blue, red and yellow bill that’s brightest at this time of year.

June is the perfect time to see these birds on the cliffs. They will have returned after spending the winter at sea, found their lifelong mate and stay for just a few weeks from late spring to raise their puffling chick.

David Craven, East Regional Manager for Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said: “Watching puffins at Flamborough is one of the best wildlife watching spectacles in Yorkshire.

"They’re such characterful birds with their bright beaks and tuxedo-like markings, whizzing to and from the cliffs, and spotting them is an experience that delights so many people.

“Unfortunately, puffins globally are in decline and although numbers in Yorkshire have remained reasonably steady at around 4,000, they are at risk from the effects of climate change on their main food source, sand eels.”

These wonderful birds need our help, through protection of their fishing grounds and food supply to their fragile marine habitat, so we’ll be helping people to find out take action over the weekend too.”

The festival is funded and supported by Yorkshire Coast Business Improvement District.

Some activities including the boat trip require booking, but there will be lots happening to drop-in or book on the day.

Click here for more information.

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