A Birds of Praa picture book

Real rescue stories.
Brought to life for little readers.

Morris – The Story of a Cornish Puffin. A tender picture book inspired by a real rescue on the Cornish coast.

Meet Morris Buy the Book
A watercolour of Morris the puffin resting on a Cornish beach at low tide, with a walker and a black dog in the distance and cliffs beyond.

Inspired by a real rescue on the Cornish coast

An illustration of Morris the puffin on the sand, gently sniffed by a curious black dog while a walker in a green coat stands close by.

Morris, as illustrated in the book

The story of Morris

A little puffin a long way from the sea.

Morris was found stranded on a Cornish beach, far from the open water and the other puffins he belonged with.

But he wasn’t alone for long. Local people spotted him, came to his rescue and took him in, keeping him safe and giving him all the time he needed to get better.

Slowly, Morris grew stronger. And once he was well again, there was one last thing to do: find him a safe new home, somewhere he could live alongside other puffins.

It’s a gentle, hopeful story about kindness, community and the wild creatures who share our coastline. And it all began with a real puffin.

Meet the real Morris

Morris in real life

The real Morris.

Morris isn’t only a character on the page. He’s a real puffin, and his story is based on a real rescue on the Cornish coast.

A stranded puffin, and people who stopped to help: that really happened. We turned it into a picture book so children can meet the kindness behind it, and so they know the birds in the story are the same birds we share our beaches with.

The pictures are storybook. The puffin is real.

Where is Morris now?
A painted portrait of a bearded man in a woollen hat smiling down at a puffin wrapped snugly in a blanket.
In the book
The real Morris, a puffin, stretching out his wings on a sunlit rock beside a pool, his reflection in the water below.
In real life

Morris today

Morris now lives at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary.

Morris now lives in a puffin colony at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary in Gweek, Cornwall, safe and surrounded by other puffins. Exactly where his story ends.

Gweek, Cornwall

Nikki smiling in a rescue aviary, gently holding a small white bird wrapped in a towel.
Nikki
Jon on a Cornish beach at sunrise, a jackdaw perched on his outstretched hand.
Jon

Who we are

Two people. Lots of wings.

We’re a couple who are passionate about bird rescue, and we work alongside others in the area to make sure no wild birds are left without care.

Most of our rescues involve corvids like crows, jackdaws and rooks, but we’ll help wildlife wherever we’re needed, from puffins and owls to buzzards and cuckoos. It’s all voluntary. Nobody pays us to do it; we do it because a bird in trouble needs someone to turn up.

Everything we know has been learned hands-on, one bird at a time, alongside the other people in our community who care as much as we do.

The books came from a simple thought. Children notice the wildlife around them, and a good story is the best way we know to help them (and the grown-ups reading beside them) care for it. So we’re turning real rescues into picture books, starting with Morris, and putting our share of the income back into helping more birds.

Our wildlife rescue work

Every bird deserves a second chance.

Corvids are what we help most often: jackdaws, crows and rooks come through our hands more than any other birds. But wildlife doesn’t choose its moment, and we’ve cared for a wonderfully wide range of species.

Our most frequent rescues

  • Jackdaws
  • Crows
  • Rooks
A young jackdaw with a pale blue eye calling with its beak wide open.
A young jackdaw
A young crow wearing tiny splints on both feet as it recovers.
A crow, recovering
A black bird with a bright orange beak wrapped snugly in a towel.
A chough

And so many more.

More corvids

  • Magpies
  • a Chough
  • a Jay

Owls & birds of prey

  • Tawny Owls
  • Buzzards

Gardens & countryside

  • numerous Blackbirds
  • a Starling
  • House Martins
  • Woodpeckers
  • a Cuckoo

Seabirds & coast

  • Puffins
  • Razorbills
  • Guillemots
  • Gannets
  • Herring Gulls
  • a Shag
  • a Fulmar
  • a Manx Shearwater

And one surprise

  • a Blue-fronted Amazon Parrot

Coming soon

More real rescue stories are on their way.

Morris is just the beginning. Here’s a first peek at the birds whose stories we’re telling next.

Bluff the chough, a black bird with a bright orange beak, wrapped snugly in a soft towel.
Next up

Bluff the Chough

The chough is the emblem of Cornwall, and Bluff’s real rescue makes a story worth waiting for.

A true rescue story · Coming soon

  • Teasel, a fluffy young tawny owl with enormous dark eyes, perched on a branch.
    Coming soon

    Teasel the Owl

    An owl’s true rescue story, retold for little readers.

  • Jack, a young jackdaw with a pale blue eye, calling with his beak wide open.
    Coming soon

    Jack the Jackdaw

    A jackdaw’s true rescue story, retold for little readers.

How the books help wildlife

Stories that help real wildlife.

When you buy a Birds of Praa book, you’re not only choosing a bedtime story. Our share of the income from the books goes back into our rescue work, and one day, we hope, towards a wildlife rescue centre of our own.

  1. Every book helps

    A share of the income from each book goes straight back into Birds of Praa’s wildlife rescue work.

  2. Care for real birds

    Helping to keep rescued birds warm, fed and cared for until they’re ready for the wild.

  3. A place of their own

    Our long-term ambition is to establish our own wildlife rescue centre, so no bird goes without care.

Buy the Book

Follow the rescues

Life at Birds of Praa, as it happens.

@birdsofpraa