Exhausted puffins washing up on Cornwall beaches after storms

Puffins exhausted from the recent storms have been washing up on beaches along Cornwall’s south coast.

Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Marine Strandings Network said 14 puffins have been found already in February, compared to two in the whole of 2025 and 15 in 2024.

The weakened – and in some cases dead – puffins have been found on beaches in the Roseland peninsula, Falmouth, Penzance, the Lizard and Porthleven.

Jon Matthews, who helps to rehabilitate wild birds in Praa Sands, said the three puffins brought to him during the past week were “so weak” after they had been “battered by the storms and hadn’t been able to eat”.