It may be too late for puffins

It's thought Jersey's puffins are no longer breeding here

Dr Glyn Young, a local conservation biologist has said that projects to try and save puffins in Jersey could be carried out but would be expensive.

He also said that, due to other factors like a rise in the sea temperatures, a project may not work anyway.

"I suppose what's worrying is that other things like a change in sea level temperatures are contriving to force them to the north anyway.

"I don't think that will do much good for them," said Dr Young.

PUFFIN CLASSIFICATION Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Charadriiformes Family: Alcidae Genus: Fratercula BBC Wildlife Finder: Seabirds

Dr Young said that with the number of puffins constantly decreasing he expects them to die out completely in the island in the next 20 years. He says work could be done to try and reintroduce them into their preferred nesting habitat, but that wouldn't be guaranteed to increase the number of the birds.

Dr Young believes it may have been several years since any puffins bred in Jersey.

"It is possible that puffins have been coming back year after year but aren't rearing any young at all and haven't reared any young for many years.

"The apparent sudden drop off from about 30 pairs a few years ago down to seven or eight birds we've seen this year could be birds are dying off of old age.

"There are no young birds coming along to take their place," said Dr Young.

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