Puffin yawning

The second reason for my visit being bitter sweet were some ‘interesting’ practices of some tourists. Having found a spot with Puffin burrows and where they appeared to be coming to land, I watched from a distance in the hope of taking photos. Unfortunately, 3 tourists decided to try and get very close to the Puffins’ landing spot and take wide angle images. I’m all for wide angle images that show the animal in their habitat and I often advocate it as the best way to tell an animal’s story photographically, but it should never be to the detriment of the animal. It was quite clear that the actions of these tourists were preventing the Puffins from returning to their burrows with Sand Eels to feed their Pufflings. After watching this for some time we decided enough was enough, and politely explained to them the effect they were having. Fortunately, they moved a good distance away and almost straight away we had anywhere between 5 and 7 Puffins around us. The experience became much more enjoyable from this point, although I’m pretty sure they returned to their unfavourable actions as soon as I left. I aim to be an optimist and took a while to decide whether to tell this story. Don’t get me wrong, I strongly recommend people should visit Noss. It's a stunning island from both land and sea, as are its feathered inhabitants, but from an ethical point of view I think it’s important to highlight that wildlife should be given respect.