How To Photograph Puffins: The Complete Field Guide

Puffins are among the most charismatic and photogenic birds on the planet. Come May, these compact seabirds return to their UK breeding colonies after months at sea and for wildlife photographers, it marks the beginning of one of the best seasons of the year.

This guide covers everything from finding the right colony to nailing your camera settings in changing light. So whether it’s your first visit to a puffin colony or your tenth, you’ll come away with better images.

Where to find puffins

UK puffin colonies are mostly found along the western and northern coastlines, with the majority on offshore islands accessible by boat. Here are the top locations, from the most accessible to the most remote:

Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire
The jewel of UK puffin photography. Just a short boat ride from Martin’s Haven, Skomer hosts one of the largest Atlantic puffin colonies in Britain. Day visitor numbers are capped at 250, so book early as tickets open in December and popular dates sell fast. Staying overnight gives you the island to yourself in the evening, with beautiful light and no other people around.

Farne Islands, Northumberland
The Farnes offer exceptional close-approach opportunities as the puffins nest very near the footpaths and have little fear of people. Boat trips run from Seahouses, and landing trips allow you to walk among the colony.

Bempton Cliffs, Yorkshire (RSPB)
The best mainland option, as no boat is required. Bempton holds the largest mainland seabird colony in England, and the RSPB reserve has good viewpoints for puffins, gannets and razorbills. Ideal if you want a full day without the logistics of an island trip.

Isle of May, Firth of Forth
A National Nature Reserve reached by boat from Anstruther. The May Princess runs regular trips during the season. The Isle of May hosts around 90,000 puffins at peak and rewards patient photographers with plenty of behavioural shots.

Staffa & Treshnish Isles, Inner Hebrides
Combining Fingal’s Cave with puffin photography makes for one of the most dramatic wildlife days in Scotland. Boat trips from Mull run throughout the season. The combination of ancient basalt columns and puffins makes for a special day with your camera.

When is the best time to photograph puffins?

Atlantic puffins arrive on coastlines from late April and remain until late July or early August. Within that window, behaviour and therefore photographic opportunity change significantly month by month:

May and June are the perfect times for photography. The colonies are full, puffins are active, and the longer days around the solstice give you excellent light from mid-afternoon through to late evening.

Month	What’s happening	Best shots
Late April / May	Arrival, courtship, nest-building	Billing pairs, colony establishing, quieter, less crowded
June	Incubation & early chick-feeding	Adults returning with sand eels; busy burrow activity
July	Chick-rearing peaks; pufflings below ground	Most frantic sand eel deliveries; good flight shots
August	Colony empties rapidly	Last few birds; dramatic light; book early in month

Best Time of Day for Puffin Photography

Most puffin colonies are active throughout the day, but timing your visit well makes a significant difference to the quality of light and the level of activity:

• Morning: Puffins often head out to fish early, so colonies can feel quiet before 10am. Good for mist and atmospheric shots.
• Mid-afternoon: Activity picks up as birds return from fishing trips. Busy and photogenic.
• Late afternoon to sunset: The prime window. Warm directional light, maximum activity at burrows, and if you’re staying locally, the colony all to yourself.

If you only have limited time, arrive mid-afternoon and stay through to sunset. That single window will give you better images than a full morning visit.

Camera settings to photograph puffins

Key decisions before you start shooting

Before raising your camera, decide what type of shot you’re going for, as the settings are quite different:

• In-flight shots: You need a fast shutter speed of at least 1/2000s and ideally 1/3200s or higher to freeze wing movement. Puffins are fast and erratic in flight. They were described as flying rugby balls, and that’s not far off the truth.
• Behavioural shots at burrows: A shutter speed of 1/500s–1/1000s is sufficient for stationary or slow-moving birds. This gives you more flexibility with aperture and ISO.
• Portraits: Prioritise aperture to control depth of field, keeping shutter speed above 1/500s to avoid camera shake with a long lens.

ISO

Keep ISO as low as conditions allow. I typically start at ISO 320 and only raise it if I’m struggling with exposure. On bright days, ISO 100–200 is fine. On overcast days with a fast shutter speed, you may need to push to ISO 800–1600. Modern mirrorless cameras handle this well; don’t be afraid to use it.

Aperture

For a blurred, creamy background, which works beautifully with puffins’ vivid colours, use a wide aperture between f/2.8 and f/5.6. The further the bird is from its background, the more pronounced the effect. For group shots or environmental images showing the colony, stopping down to f/8–f/11 gives you more depth of field.

Autofocus mode

• Nikon / Sony mirrorless: AF-C (continuous autofocus)
• Canon: AI Servo
• For in-flight shots, use your camera’s subject tracking or bird-eye detection if available — modern AF systems are remarkably capable.

Exposure cheat sheet – starting points by condition

These are starting points only. Always review your histogram and adjust. In changing coastal light, checking exposure every 15–20 minutes keeps you in the zone even if it feels like nothing is changing.

Weather Conditions	ISO	Aperture	Shutter Speed
Sunny	100-400	f/2.8 – f/16	1/2000 – 1/8000
Some clouds	400-800	f/2.8 – f/8	1/2000 – 1/8000
Cloudy and grey	400-1600	f/2.8 – f/8	1/2000

How to photograph puffins – composition Ideas

When time with the puffins is limited, having a mental shot list stops you from spending all day on one angle and going home with a narrow set of images. Here’s a useful checklist:

• The classic portrait: head-on or three-quarter view, bill sharp, background blurred
• Sand eel delivery: puffin returning to burrow with a beak full of fish (June–July is best)
• Billing pair: two puffins grooming or ‘billing’ each other; peak May–early June
• Puffin in flight: approaching the colony with sand eels if you can get the timing right
• Environmental shot: bird in context of the landscape: cliffside, sky, colony spread
• Detail shot: close-in on the bill, the eye, or the orange feet
• Wet-weather shot: raindrops on feathers add atmosphere; don’t pack up when it drizzles
• Pan-blur flight: slow shutter panning shot for a sense of speed

Rain can work in your favour. A longer exposure reveals falling rain in the background, and droplets on feathers add real character to portrait shots. Keep shooting when the weather changes.

photographing puffins in flight

Puffins in flight are one of the most satisfying wildlife shots to get right, and one of the most challenging. They’re fast, compact and often appear from unexpected angles. Here’s how to approach it:

• Accept a high rejection rate. Even experienced bird photographers expect to keep 1 in 20 flight shots. Volume is part of the process.
• Find a spot where birds are regularly coming in to land and watch the flight lines for a few minutes before shooting.
• Pre-focus on a specific approach point like a burrow entrance, a rock, an area of turf or plant and wait for birds to pass through.
• Use continuous AF and let the camera track; pick up the bird as it enters your frame and follow through.
• Shoot into the wind if possible. The puffins slow down on approach into a headwind, giving you more time to react.
• Set shutter speed to at least 1/2000s, preferably 1/3200s–1/5000s. Open aperture to f/2.8 if the light requires it.

Capturing puffin behaviour

Living at such close quarters in large colonies, puffins have plenty going on beyond the classic portrait. Spending time watching a small area of the colony reveals:

• Territorial disputes between neighbours, with puffins bickering over burrow boundaries, make great action sequences
• Mugging by gulls is an ongoing issue for puffins. Great black-backed and herring gulls often harass returning puffins for their sand eels
• Burrow maintenance is an ongoing task, with birds bringing grass or feathers to their burrows
• Puffling sightings are possible in July, when young puffins occasionally appear at burrow entrances towards dusk
• Loafing with puffins standing on clifftops or rocks, watching the world go by, is great for portrait sequences

Resist the urge to move constantly. The photographers who come back with the strongest behavioural images are usually the ones who pick a good spot, sit down and wait.

Photographing puffins in the golden evening light

If you have the option to stay overnight close to a puffin colony, take it. The difference in quality between day-visitor light and evening light is significant, and the experience of being on an island after the last boat leaves is special.

In the hour before sunset, backlighting through puffin feathers produces a warm glow that’s impossible to achieve in flat midday light. High-key images work well against a darkening sky, and the relative quiet of the colony at that time lets you move slowly and methodically between shots.

On Skomer in particular, staying also gives you the chance to photograph Manx shearwaters returning after dark and in rare conditions, you may even catch the northern lights over the Irish Sea. Bring a wide-angle lens and a tripod for anything after dusk.

One Day or more for puffin photography

Most people only get a day with the puffins, and so planning and focus are needed.  To make it a better experience, I would highly recommend staying close to the colony and having more time in better light with these fantastic little birds.

By having more than one day with puffins, you can capture them in different weather and light conditions as well as at different times of the day.

Kit Bag Essentials

I prefer to travel light, a manageable kit that you’ll actually use all day beats a heavy bag that stays in the car. While I list DSLR lenses, you can use these tips for any camera, whether it is a point-and-shoot, bridge camera or phone camera. Here’s what I bring:

Item	Notes
Waterproof bag & clothing	The weather on the coast is unpredictable. Always be prepared
Telephoto zoom (150–600mm)	Essential for frame-filling shots; heavier but worth it
Mid-range zoom (70–200mm f/2.8)	More manageable for a full day; great low-light performance
Wide-angle lens (17–55mm)	Useful for environmental shots and night/northern lights
Polarising filter	Reduces sea glare; improves sky tones in landscape shots
Tripod	Essential if staying overnight as puffins + aurora = magic
Kneeler or knee pads	You’ll spend hours at ground level; protect your joints
Multiple batteries	No charging facilities so bring spares for every day
Large memory cards	Shoot freely; don’t waste time deleting in the field
Patience	The best shots come to those who wait so factor this into your day

Final Tips

Puffin photography rewards patience, preparation and a willingness to sit still. The birds themselves will do the work as they’re naturally curious, often comically bold and full of character. Your job is to be in the right place, in the right light, with the right settings dialled in.

• Book early as tickeys can sell out weeks in advance; overnight stays even faster
• Research your site before you go. Know the colony layout, the flight lines and where the light falls
• Check the tide and weather as coastal conditions change fast; dress for the worst
• Respect the birds by staying on paths, never approaching burrows directly, and keep noise down
• Give yourself more than one day if you can. Behaviour and light vary enormously, and a second day transforms your images