Puffins

Puffins are probably the best known  of our auks due to their brightly coloured bills and comical manner. They are burrow nesters and are prone to predation so nest on islands and, in Pembrokeshire, can be found nesting on Skomer, Skokholm and the North Bishop. At last count in April 2022, 38,896 puffins were recorded on Skomer Island, which is a 240% increase in 10 years. Whilst this is great news for Pembrokeshire, sadly the global picture is less rosy and puffins are listed on the IUCN Red List as endangered, which means they are at risk of global extinction.  Like the other auks, they arrive in April and are starting to leave the islands in late July, having raised a single chick called a puffling. 

Puffins eat mainly sand eels and other small fish and will spend most of the year out at sea.   The puffin’s beak has backward pointing spikes which enable it to hold large numbers of fish in its beak, the record number of sand eels being 61!