Puffin at Tees Barrage 'an extremely rare sight'

Puffin at Tees Barrage 'an extremely rare sight'Sat, November 14, 2026 at 12:48 PM UTC

A sighting of a puffin on the Tees Barrage has been described by a birdwatcher as extremely rare.

Puffins usually live out at sea or during the breeding season on coastal cliffs or offshore islands. One was spotted at the structure, which stands 22 miles (35km) from the mouth of the River Tees, on Wednesday.

The puffin has been paddling short distances up and down the river, and people have been asked not to approach it.

To the best of his knowledge, local birdwatcher Martin Blick said it was the first time that a puffin had visited Tees Barrage. He noted that while the seabird seemed healthy, it was acting as if it "didn't really want to be there".

'Faulty navigation system'

Puffins do occasionally venture along rivers and into estuaries, particularly outside the breeding season, so the Tees Barrage sighting does not automatically mean it needs to be rescued.

So long as they are swimming, diving and behaving normally, intervention is not needed, but people are advised to keep their distance.

Blick said: "It may have a faulty navigation system!

"It may have been following fish upstream and if it had found a good food source you can't blame it for following it.

"It it were on land it would need rescuing, or helping to give it a change of getting back to where it should be, but because it's on water and diving and hopefully fishing I'd say it should be left to its own devices."

He added: "As I was watching it was paddling downstream for 10 or 15 minutes, then it would turn round and paddle back upstream.

"I saw it doing that a few times, as if it didn't want to be there but didn't quite know how to get out."

Declines

There is a large puffin colony on the Farne Islands about 75 miles (120km) away.

A recent annual survey showed a 12% fall in the numbers of breeding pairs - from 38,559 last year to 33,939 this year.

The National Trust said long-term monitoring showed declines of more than a fifth since 2018, with similar declines recorded at neighbouring colonies.

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