Stunning photographs show puffins swooping to land on remote clifftop colony in Scotland

Stunning photographs show puffins swooping in to land on a remote clifftop colony, on the northernmost inhabited island in the UK.

Some 50,000 pairs of puffins live at the Hermaness National Nature Reserve on Unst. Picture: SWNS

Some 50,000 pairs of puffins live at the Hermaness National Nature Reserve on Unst, Shetland Islands, and it is estimated that a fifth of the Scottish puffin population are found on the islands.

The summer months, from June to August, are when parent birds rear their chicks.

The puffins nest in burrows, which they dig out with their claws, and in cracks in the cliffs.

The puffins nest in burrows, which they dig out with their claws, and in cracks in the cliffs. Picture: SWNS

Photographer Adam Gray, 32, was visiting from London when he snapped the Atlantic puffins flying inland.

Adam said: "The puffins were flying in and out of the burrows.

"It was an amazing sight - it was extremely windy.

Photographer Adam Gray, 32, was visiting from London when he snapped the Atlantic puffins flying inland. Picture: SWNS

"You see them coming back in at high speed before putting the breaks on at the last minute to hover and land in the wind onto the clifftops.

"They land on the cliff really then walk into the burrows if they feel like it.

"They are really friendly and calm, I got within a foot of them.

"They are happy to come near people.

"It is an incredible location and an amazing sight, watching them all fly in like bullets towards the cliff.

"It was a stunning sight."