SOS Puffin
SOS Puffin is the Scottish Seabird Centre's award-winning project working to remove invasive tree mallow from important seabird islands and restore puffin populations.
On the island of Craigleith, puffin numbers crashed from around 5000 pairs to less than a thousand, due to a giant invasive plant called tree mallow which grows to 3 metres in height. Tree mallow also spread onto the nearby islands of Fidra and the Lamb and threatened the puffin populations there as well.
Tree mallow is thought to have been introduced to the Bass Rock over 300 years ago by soldiers manning the fortress there because of the medicinal value of its leaves. It has spread rapidly in recent years, helped by mild winters (linked to climate change), taking over other islands and preventing the puffins from nesting and rearing their young.
Over 360 work parties have made regular trips to Craigleith, Fidra and the Lamb over the last 18 years to cut down the tree mallow. The project is run by the Scottish Seabird Centre and supported entirely by volunteers, many of whom come back repeatedly to help on work parties. Over 1,300 volunteers have been involved since the project began.
