Scottish Seabird Centre Puffin Fest

The Scottish Seabird Centre Puffin Fest is launched! Photo © Rob McDougall

I’ve just had a lovely day in sunny North Berwick, a pretty seaside town northeast of Edinburgh on the south shore of the Firth of Forth. I had been invited as one of the “opening acts” at the first Puffin Fest celebrating all things puffin at the Scottish Seabird Centre.

Arriving by train from Edinburgh, I strolled along towards the harbour admiring the town’s charming stone cottages and handsome Victorian houses. When I reached the harbour I was impressed by the long sweep of the bay and the striking view of several rocky islands offshore.

From North Berwick you can see the Bass Rock, Fidra, Craigleith and The Lamb. These are ancient volcanic islands that are home to thousands of seabirds including puffins, gannets, razorbills, cormorants, shags, guillemots, eider ducks and various types of gull.

The island of Craigleith from the East Bay, North Berwick.

Craigleith is the nearest island to North Berwick, and for many years it was home to one of the largest puffin colonies in the UK with 28,000 breeding pairs. By 1999 the puffins had become endangered because of a plant called tree mallow that grew rapidly and choked the areas where puffins made their burrows. Unable to raise their pufflings, the birds started to abandon Craigleith. It was the sharp observational skills of one Scottish Seabird Centre volunteer, Maggie Sheddon, that alerted people to the dwindling population of puffins, and SOS Puffin was launched. Since 2007 hundreds of volunteers have gone out by ferry in the winter months while the puffins are at sea to “weed” the island’s invasive tree mallow. This has helped the puffin colony reestablish itself on Craigleith.

The Bass Rock from North Berwick.

The other well-known island in this group is the Bass Rock, which is distinctive in appearance because it is white with 150,000 gannets and their droppings! The lighthouse you can see in the photo above is the only human habitation now, but around it you can see the ruins of a castle from the 15th century which was later used by various Scottish kings as a prison for their enemies.

The Scottish Seabird Centre invited me to take part in their very first Puffin Fest because I have written two books about puffins: Lewis Clowns Around and Harris the Hero. I had a great time sharing these two stories of heroic puffins with a lovely audience of children who had lots to contribute to our discussion.

My storytelling event was only one of a long list of exciting activities for the whole family that made up the Puffin Fest programme between 16 and 26 May. The events included puffin trails, boat cruises to the islands, expert wildlife talks, puffin parties, a puffin-themed art exhibition and the chance to see puffins in action on the Scottish Seabird Centre’s live interactive cameras. If you love puffins as much as I do, it was a festival not to be missed!

Minibeasts and beautiful bugs

©2005 Lynne Rickards

Spring has returned at last, and all sorts of weird and wonderful minibeasts are waking up. Not everyone likes playing with bugs, but if you look closely they can be very interesting. When I was nine I had a little plastic cylinder with a magnifying glass at one end and a removable cap at the other. If I was quick enough I could catch beetles and grasshoppers in the cylinder, pop the lid back on and then look through the glass at the amazing creature I had captured. Of course I would always set them free again!

When my son was little he loved worms and snails. Anything slimy had great appeal, and he would forget all about racing if he found a worm on Sports Day! For some reason, insects and other creatures tend to sneak into my books now and again. In Jacob O’Reilly Wants a Pet, the little boy gets a pet snail which suits him perfectly.

©Shelledy Elementary School, Colorado.

In another story I have a little housefly who is unhappy because he wants to be a more colourful and impressive bug. He looks at the beautiful butterfly and the bouncy grasshopper and the shiny ladybird and wishes he was like them. The story is written like a poem, and it’s called Buster the Fly:

In the end, Buster’s mum convinces him that he has his own special talents and that he should be proud of who he is. Buster the fly is OK!

If you’re studying minibeasts at school, I’ve found a fun BBC Minibeast video you can watch. It shows all sorts of amazing creatures, including beetles that look like an old leaf, and others that can squirt hot liquid or horrible tasting goo to keep from being eaten! Very clever.

©2002 Lynne Rickards

I think some beetles are very beautiful. A while back I did some paintings of beetles, including the one above which was shiny and golden. It is similar to the scarab beetle which was seen by the ancient Egyptians as a symbol of their sun god Ra. In the early morning these dung beetles could be seen rolling balls of dung along the ground, just as Khepri, the morning sun god, was believed to roll the sun across the sky. Because these beetles were sacred, the ancient Egyptians made beads, amulets and small carvings of them for good luck.

This ancient Egyptian carving shows a sacred scarab beetle.

Beetles take all sorts of interesting shapes. There are some with triangular bodies that make me think of Art Deco brooches. There are others with great horns like a deer. They come in a huge range of colours, too!

©Christopher Marley

It’s amazing how beautiful minibeasts can be. Take a look at these fantastic stamps:

©2007 Royal Mail

If you’d like to try some free minibeast activities (like crafts, puzzles and colouring) you can visit Activity Village which has lots of ideas. Get thinking about your favourite bug, and see what you can create!