The Westman Islands sit off the south coast of Iceland, a scattered archipelago of around 15 islands. Only one, Heimaey, has permanent residents, fewer than 4,500 of them. Every spring, more than a million Atlantic puffins arrive across the whole archipelago to join them.
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The birds spend most of the year far out at sea, scattered across the open North Atlantic. Each spring, they return to land for one reason only: to breed.
The Westman Islands offer exactly what they need. Steep grassy cliffs. Soft volcanic soil, perfect for digging burrows. Few predators are able to reach them there. Together, these islands host the largest puffin colony anywhere in the world.
Puffins are creatures of habit. Most pairs mate for life. Each year, they return to the very same burrow they used before, sometimes digging it deeper, sometimes just moving back in. Inside, a single egg is laid and cared for by both parents in turn.
Once a chick, known as a puffling, hatches, it stays hidden underground for about six weeks. Its parents bring it fish until it grows large enough to fend for itself. Then, one night, it finally emerges and heads for the sea alone, ready to spend the next several years of its life almost entirely on the water.
For a few short months each summer, the numbers across the islands become extraordinary. The town of Vestmannaeyjar, home to just a few thousand people, finds itself surrounded by hundreds of times that many birds, nesting in burrows along every available cliff edge across the archipelago.
By late summer, as the pufflings leave for the sea and the adults depart their breeding grounds, the balance quietly tips back in favour of the humans, at least until the following spring.