Razorbills nest on rocky cliffs and island stacks around the UK, with welfare challenges from prey fish depletion, disturbance at colonies, and entanglement in fishing gear.
Razorbill welfare is directly linked to prey fish availability. In years or locations where sandeel and small fish are depleted, adults struggle to provision chicks adequately, causing poor chick growth and high nest failure rates. Entanglement in set nets causes drowning — a welfare harm that is preventable through gear modification and spatial management. Colony disturbance from boat-based wildlife tourism, when insufficiently managed, causes repeated flushing of incubating birds exposing eggs and chicks to cold and predators. Evidence-based tourism guidelines and stronger management of industrial sandeel fisheries near breeding colonies are the key welfare interventions.