Auks

All three of the common British auk species breed on Skokholm. Razorbills and Guillemots do not breed in large numbers because the Old Red Sandstone cliffs do not provide suitable ledges for them, although the different geology of Skomer provides more suitable nesting sites. They are mainly to be found in small colonies on the cliffs on the north side of the island. All three species spend the winter months at sea and only come ashore to breed.

Puffin (Fratercula arctica)

The population appears to have been stable for the last 20 years at around 2500 pairs following a dramatic fall in the preceding years. In 1928 Lockley estimated 20,000 pairs and speaks of them nesting in the walls around the house. He again mentions the same figure in 1938, but a rapid decline to 5-10,000 pairs in 1953 followed. They are now to be found nesting in burrows around many of the cliff tops but no longer venture on to the plateau of the island around the buildings. Birds are usually seen offshore in late March, on land April to early August although birds have been found still feeding young in early September. There are 1 or 2 offshore records for October and November. White Puffins were seen in 1936 and 1972.

In the breeding season the Puffin is often the first bird to greet the visitor to Skokholm as there are colonies in and around South Haven, the island's landing place. The biggest colony is a little further along the south coast on the grassy slopes of Crab Bay. A hide places the observer in the middle of the colony, and it is not unknown for Puffins to wander into the hide and scrabble about overthe feet of the occupants.

The island of Grassholm, now the second largest gannetry in the world, was an enormous Puffin colony until the nineteenth century, when the pressure of so many burrowing birds caused the virtual destruction of the thin soil. The puffins moved out, probably to Skokholm and Skomer, and the Gannets began to move in.

The population is currently about 400 pairs. The peak occured in 1937 when there was an estimated 1000 pairs breeding. Numbers have declined steadily, including an abrupt fall in the 1969 seabird "wreck" but now appear to have stabilised. Birds are ashore from March to late July or early August and are scarce during the August - September moult period. Birds ringed on Skokholm have been found as far afield as Morocco and Algeria.

The main Razorbill colony is on The Bluffs towards the western end of the island, with smaller colonies on The Neck, at Little Bay Point, Twinlet and other points along the north coast.

The breeding population declined in the 1940s and 50s from its pre-war level of around 200 pairs to reach an all time low of 30 pairs in 1960. A slow recovery has taken place, briefly interrupted by the 1969 Irish Sea seabird "wreck" to the current level of around 300 pairs. Occasional bridled forms occur. Birds are ashore from March to late July and are scarce during the period of moult August to late September. Occasional Northern race birds (U.a.aalge) are seen in the late autumn and winter.

The principal site on the island for Guillemots is at Twinlet on the north coast.

There is a record of a single adult Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle) which came ashore with Puffins in South Haven on 15th June 1968.

There have been a number of records of Little Auks (Alle alle) including 14 found dead on the Neck in April 1950 following gales and more recently singles offshore in 1990.