(fratercula artica)
The Atlantic Puffin is everyone's favourite seabird. Its parrot-like huge colourful bill gives it a comical expression. It nests, in sometimes huge colonies, in burrows on grassy slopes close by coastal or island cliffs. In Scotland the biggest colony is on the Isle of May just off the Fife coast which in 2003 had 69,000 occupied burrows. Like other seabirds, the Puffin's breeding success is heavily dependent on the availability of food, primarily sandeels, for feeding the young. In recent years there has been a large decline in breeding numbers due to food shortage.
Historically, Ailsa Craig had a sizable breeding colony but this was wiped out by the infestation of Brown Rats. Following a successful rat eradication program Puffins have returned and their numbers are increasing each year. The wintering grounds of the Atlantic Puffin are not well known but they are assumed to be widely dispersed well out in the ocean.