2020 was scheduled to be the year that I would finally get to see and hopefully photograph puffins. COVID-19 had other plans for us and the world but in 2024 we finally got to travel as we had planned. A bonus was that Edin had finished her doctorate and was able to travel with us so we got to share the puffin fun with her and benefited from her sharp seabird eyes to spot some details we would otherwise have missed.

RSPB Bempton Cliffs was our first opportunity to spot puffins. We arrived with a howling cold wind that had the birds flying high and it took a little while to find the first puffin amongst all the razorbills, guillemot’s, gannets and kittywakes. Over a few days we got to learn their habits and haunts and managed to make some precious memories and photos.

We had arranged a cabin nearby so could visit a couple of times day to get the early morning and evening light. This allowed us to appreciate the different opportunities in the differing wind and light conditions and let us work out the habits of the birds. This next image would not have happened without extended time watching to see this bird land high on the cliff and then finding a gap to spot it through the vegetation.

Next stop on our puffin odyssey were the Farne Islands which were an easy trip from Seahouses where we based ourselves for 3 days. This was a very different environment but with far less time to explore.

Our 2020 plans had been to photograph puffins in the UK but the 2024 trip coincided with an opportunity for me to visit Svalbard and the Arctic where I was able to get some more puffin opportunities as I shared in my post Exploring Isfjorden.

Photos with Nikon Z9 and Nikkor Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR S (Bempton Cliffs puffins in flight), Nikkor Z 800mm f6.3 (all other puffin images) and iPhone 14 Pro.