A puffling, a baby Atlantic puffin, was photographed on the Purbeck coast near Swanage, the first confirmed sighting on the Dorset mainland in about 30 years. Marine ornithologist Richard Caldow and 13 volunteers from the Purbeck Natural History Forum had monitored the cliffs for 15 weeks; six adults were recorded in April and volunteers saw adults carrying fish into at least two nest sites. Caldow says the photographed chick had been fed by its parents from about 29 May until 5 July, making it roughly 38 days old when it briefly emerged; volunteers chartered a boat on 7 July and the puffling popped out just after 7pm. Caldow believes the puffling likely fledged that night and is now out at sea; the parents do not care for it after fledging and it will not return for at least two years and will not breed until 2030 at the soonest. The sighting shows that Purbeck puffins can still lay fertile eggs and rear a chick in some years, and the National Trust and volunteers have installed motion-sensor cameras in the fissure to collect footage that will be reviewed after the breeding season.
