ONE of Britain’s largest puffin colonies is on the verge of being wiped out by a Mediterranean plant that has flourished in Scotland’s increasingly mild winters.

The puffin population of the tiny island of Craigleith in the Firth of Forth has plummeted from 29,000 pairs to about 3,000 pairs in five years — and could vanish altogether.

The catastrophic decline has been caused by a dusky-pink, 8ft flowering plant called tree mallow (lavatera arborea), which, assisted by global warming, has spread across the island, smothering the puffins’ nesting burrows and leaving them homeless.

The small number of birds remaining on the designated site of special scientific interest, which is also an important breeding ground for grey seals, have been pushed to its rocky fringes.

The situation has become so serious that a £240,000 funding bid has been submitted to the Viridor Credits Community Wildlife Award scheme to launch a five-year puffinrescue plan that would be put in place after 150 volunteers have cut down the tree mallow. The award winners will be announced in two weeks.

Possible plans include the introduction of fake puffins and tapes of puffin mating calls to fool the sociable birds into thinking that there is still a bustling community on Craigleith.

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