Store
Perky Penmon Puffins
Just off Penmon Point we have Puffin Island. This stunning bird sanctuary boasted 50,000 perky puffins in the early 1800’s. The Island is more suited to seabirds than people but it has been home to religious hermits in the past who earned money by pickling puffins in barrels and sending them to London for posh folk! Disaster struck when a ship went down off the point and the brown rats on board swam to the Island shore. The puffin population declined rapidly as the rats feasted on puffin eggs and took over. The rats ruled for nearly 200 years until a two year project to give the island back to the seabirds ended in 2000 and the perky puffins are slowly starting to return. They are quirky little birds with small wings that flap at 400 beats per minute in the sky and propel them down to 200 feet in the sea. 
Share by: