From the Grantham Journal, August 8, 1958
An unusual visitor to Great Gonerbv last weekend proved to a young puffin which had evidently become so exhausted in its flight Irom the coast that it could get no further.
It was found by a young villager, David Fox, who works at Grantham post office, his attention being attracted by the bird's unusual appearance as it lay in a field off Belton Lane.
Apart from rather striking colouring, puffins have exceptionally large beaks, though in the case of younger birds like this one the beaks are not fully developed.
The puffin was unable to fly, so David had no difficulty in picking it up to examine it, and, realising it was an unusual bird, he took it along to Colin Pask, also of Great Gonerbv and a 15-year-old King's School boy who takes a great interest in bird life.
He, too, was unable to recognise what type of bird it was, but, by enlisting the help of Mr. G. F. Johnson, principal of Grantham College of Further Education, the bird was identified as a young puffin.
They were very surprised that it should have come so far inland as they haunt offshore waters and use the turfy slopes of cliffs for nesting.
In view of the westerly winds of the weekend, it seems probable that the puffin had been driven inland by storms not from the East Coast but from the West.
To confirm the identification, Mr. Johnson took the puffin to a naturalist friend at Sleaford who photographed the bird, still unable fly, standing on Mr. Johnson's hand.
With none of the bird's usual type of food available, it was decided to take it to the coast, and it was put in the sea at the nature reserve at Gibraltar Point.
For Colin Pask, the fact that it was a sea bird was of particular interest as he starts 16 days' holiday shortly at the bird observatory at Spum Point where also spent a holiday last year.
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