One of Ireland’s unmistakable and most-loved seabirds, Puffins can be found on our more remote islands and sea-cliffs. Arriving onto their nesting grounds in late spring, the birds raise a single chick in a burrow where it will be fed on a rich diet of sprats and sand-eels. Their famous colourful bill is used for display but is also a useful spade for excavating those burrows. Once the chick reaches a certain age, the adults stop feeding it. Eventually, driven by hunger, the fledgling will leave the burrow and fly out to sea to feed for itself. Puffins spend the winter out in the mid-Atlantic where the outer layers of their beaks are shed, only to regrow the following spring. This pair was photographed on Great Saltee Island, Co. Wexford in July 2009.