Look out for baby puffins under your car in North Berwick

Scottish Seabird Centre asks drivers to check for young puffins hiding under cars

July 2013. The Scottish Seabird Centre has appealed to local drivers around North Berwick to be alert for young puffins - or pufflings - under their cars.

Over the next few weeks, puffins will leave their burrows around Scotland's coasts and return to sea until they return to breed next spring. However, after leaving their burrows some pufflings become disorientated by the lights from neighbouring towns. Their first ever flight may see them flying into town and then seeking out somewhere dark and out the way to hide - they often settle underneath cars.

Staff at the Seabird Centre have, in previous years, been alerted to numerous lost pufflings - one was found wandering along a corridor in the Marine Hotel in North Berwick, and one (christened Buddy by Seabird Centre staff) under a vehicle in the local supermarket car park.

Call if you find a puffling

The Scottish Seabird Centre's Chief Executive, Tom Brock OBE, has appealed for drivers to be vigilant and to call the Scottish Seabird Centre on 01620 890202 or the SSPCA on 03000 999 999.

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