Puffin Carrying Sand Eels for Its Chick, Faroe Islands. (IMAGE) Pew Charitable Trusts, Ocean Science ...

Sand eels are a vital source of food for seabirds that live along the UK coastline, including the internationally important puffin colony at Bempton Cliffs in East Yorkshire.

They typically hunt small fish such as herring or sand eels, and they fly back to their nests at a rapid speed of 400 flaps per minute, reaching speeds up to 55 miles per hour.

“Oh, yeah,” he said, having spotted a live, downy chick. Dr. Hansen with a puffin chick pulled out of its burrow. Puffins with beaks full of sand eels to bring back to their young.

Without as many sand eels in the water, the birds have to fly farther to find food for themselves and their chicks. So the data from the GPS loggers, however briefly transmitted, is of great interest.

National Trust Images Many would say that is a power which has been more talked about than actually used, but in this case, with regards to sand eels, things are very different. So there is a ...

Living exclusively in coastal areas, they live on a diet of fish, with sand eels a particular favorite. According to the RSPB, there are around 580,000 UK breeding pairs.