Mummified Common Guillemot / Common Murre skull (Uria aalge)

This is a skull of the common guillemot, also known as the common murre Uria aalge.

This species is a large member of the Auk family with circumpolar distribution of the sub-species in the Northern waters. They breed in huge colonies with a density of up to 20 pairs on one square metre of rock. They are expert divers with diving depths of 180m being recorded in search of food.

This specimen was from a dead bird washed up on the shore and has been dried and mummified on the beach. The damage to the back of the skull might indicate that this animal was caught by a peregrine or similar. 

The skull length is 115mm