Experts' Concern For Breeding Puffin Numbers By Gerard Tubb, North of England Correspondent Wildlife experts are worried that climate change, overfishing and bad weather might be driving down the numbers of puffins breeding in the UK. The National Trust has begun its five-yearly puffin census on the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast, counting breeding pairs of the seabirds as they sit on their nests in old rabbit burrows. The count is taking place amid fears the population is shrinking due to environmental changes and long periods of extreme weather. "The puffins are a real barometer for seabird colonies," National Trust head ranger David Steel told Sky News during a break in the census. If they're going down then that's really concerning because other species will be following suit. Until 10 years ago the puffin population on the eight windswept islands had steadily increased from the 3,000 pairs counted in the first survey in 1939. In 2003 the census indicated there were 55,674 pairs, but that fell to 36,500 pairs at the last count five years ago. Puffins stand on a cliff top in the Farne Islands Mr Steel, who has lived on the Farne Islands for most of the last 13 years, says the birds are facing a host of problems made worse by extreme weather conditions and he fears the population may have fallen further. Is it a lack of food, or overfishing, or warming of the seas, or climate change? It's probably a combination of all these," he said. To carry out the census the team of rangers have to lie on the ground and put their arms down as many of the burrows as they can to check which ones contain nesting birds. This year they have also installed underground cameras in some of the burrows and have already been rewarded with what's thought to be the first film of a puffin laying an egg. The counting will continue until at least the end of next month with the progress recorded online. The final results will be published in July.