'Weak and exhausted' puffin rescued from beach

A puffin found "weak and exhausted" on a beach in Hove was likely blown off course by Storm Goretti, a local wildlife charity says.

East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service (WRAS) said the puffin would now be cared for at an RSPCA centre in Hastings with specialist seabird facilities.

Trevor Weeks, the director of East Sussex WRAS, said puffins were found on the Sussex coast "very rarely" and were usually offshore during the colder months.

He believes the bird is young and hopes it can be released back into the wild when it regains its strength.

After the bird was reported, it was caught by a volunteer from Brighton & Hove Wildlife Advice & Rescue Service and delivered to a rescue centrewhere it was placed in an incubator and given fluids.

According to Weeks, the bird is now '"doing really well".

Puffins are usually found from April to July on islands and cliff tops around the south-west of England, Wales, Scotland and Yorkshire. They then spend winter at sea.

Weeks said it was "normally the juveniles that get caught out in this sort of stormy weather and can get blown further afield by mistake".

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