‘Last chance saloon’: the scramble to save Dorset’s vanishing Purbeck puffins

Numbers have plummeted in recent years, but the problem is no one really knows why nesting pairs fail to rear youngReaching the vantage point is a tricky business.First, there’s a hop across a fence into Scratch Arse quarry – the stone workers used to find it such a cramped space to work in that their backsides would bump into the rock face. Then, a tiptoe through the slopes of early spider orchids and wild cabbage before a dizzying scramble down to the edge of the cliff. Continue reading...

‘Last chance saloon’: the scramble to save Dorset’s vanishing Purbeck puffins

Numbers have plummeted in recent years, but the problem is no one really knows why nesting pairs fail to rear young

Reaching the vantage point is a tricky business.

First, there’s a hop across a fence into Scratch Arse quarry – the stone workers used to find it such a cramped space to work in that their backsides would bump into the rock face. Then, a tiptoe through the slopes of early spider orchids and wild cabbage before a dizzying scramble down to the edge of the cliff. Continue reading...