Burhou island puffins inspire new Guernsey stamps

Bridget Yabsley said the stamp designs "capture the beauty of these striking creatures"

Stamps featuring puffins that arrive in the Channel Islands in spring have been released by Guernsey Post.

The stamps have been designed by Guernsey-based artist James Colmer.

Bridget Yabsley, head of Philatelic at Guernsey Post, said about 100 pairs of Atlantic puffins "reunite on a rocky island called Burhou" every spring.

She said the stamp designs "capture the beauty of these striking creatures" as they gather on Burhou, 1.4 miles (2.2km) northeast of Alderney.

'Incredibly loyal'

Ms Yabsley said spring was when the puffins' "grey bodies brighten to a costume of striking black and white and their beaks begin to glow with red, yellow and black stripes".

She added: "Each pair is incredibly loyal to each other and will often return to the same home every year where they will raise a single baby puffin, known as a puffling, until it fledges.

"We are delighted with the stamps that James Colmer has designed, which capture the beauty of these striking creatures."

Guernsey Post said pollution, dwindling fish stocks and extreme weather variation all posed a threat to the Atlantic puffin and between 2012 and 2017 the island's population declined.

The RSPB said the puffin was included on the Red List of UK Birds of Conservation Concern after being listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

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