Granddad’s Camera
Razorbill, as it appears in the game

No.055 · Birds · Common

Razorbill

Alca torda

A black-backed auk with a deep, blunt bill marked by a white line, breeding in cracks and gaps in boulders on sea cliffs.

When to look

April to July, mostly at dawn and day.

Time of day

Best time
Skomer cliffs, roughly April to mid-July; youngsters jump to the sea in mid-to-late June.
Where in the game
the Pembrokeshire coast (island, sea cliff and sea)
Size
Body 38–42 cm
Wingspan
60–68 cm
Weight
About 610 g
Lifespan
Typically 13 years once breeding; a ringed bird reached 41 years (BTO)
Population
165,000 pairs in the UK (BTO, 2015). 10,639 birds counted on Skomer in 2024 (Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales)
Status
Amber list, UK Birds of Conservation Concern (BTO)

Diet

Mid-water schooling fish such as sand eels, sprats and herring, caught by diving

Habitat

Sea cliffs, nesting in crevices and gaps between boulders; at sea for the rest of the year

Breeding

One egg per year (first egg on Skomer 26 April in 2024). The chick leaves the cliff, often with its father, at about 2–3 weeks old, jumping before it can fly (first 'jumpling' on Skomer 17 June in 2024)

Field signs

  • Upright black-and-white birds standing on ledges and in gaps in rocks
  • A thick, blunt bill with a thin white vertical stripe
  • Black head and back (guillemots are browner)
  • Small rafts on the sea below the cliffs

Did you know?

  • Razorbills nest in crevices and among boulders rather than on open ledges, which is why their colonies look less crowded than guillemots'.
  • The chicks jump from the cliff long before they can fly: on Skomer the first 'jumplings' appeared between 12 and 23 June in 2017–2024.
  • Razorbills are the closest living relatives of the extinct great auk, which was flightless.

Moments worth waiting for

  • Jumpling day June to July, dusk and dawn
    A downy chick pauses on the ledge, then leaps, fluttering to the sea with its father calling from the water below.

Photo tip

Look down on ledges from the Wick or Bull Hole for clean portraits, and shoot rafts from a boat at water level. A fast shutter (1/2000 s) catches the whirr of wings as they come in. Expose to hold detail in the black head against pale rock.

Be a good naturalist

Stay on the marked paths and well back from cliff edges; do not use drones or throw anything over the edge. On a boat, keep your distance and speed low: auks are easily flushed and nests are then open to gulls.

The law

Protected as a wild bird under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; part of the Skomer, Skokholm and the seas off Pembrokeshire protected areas

Checked against