Five new endangered seabird species
Five species have been added to the Red list of highest conservation concern, after a review of the status of the UK’s breeding seabird populations.
Arctic Tern over Coquet Island. Image by Dr Paul Morrison
Severe population declines have been driven by multiple pressures, in particular climate change impacts, invasive predators and lack of food. In addition, ‘bird flu’ (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza or HPAI) has caused population declines in several seabird species.
A study published in the journal British Birds sees the addition of Leach’s Storm-petrel, Common Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Arctic Tern and Great Skua to this unenviable list. They join Kittiwake, Herring Gull, Roseate Tern, Arctic Skua and Puffin.
Twenty-eight seabird species were assessed against a set of standardised criteria and, apart from two species that no longer breed here, placed on either the Green, Amber or Red list – indicating an increasing level of conservation concern. These latest results, added to the Birds of Conservation Concern review published in 2021, shows that of 245 regularly occurring bird species in the UK, 73 (30%) now appear on the UK Red list of species of high conservation concern.
It’s not all bad news as Shag moves from the Red to the Amber list, and Black Guillemot joins Cormorant on the Green list as new information helps to shed light on their populations.
Arctic Terns breed on Coquet Island. Stephen Westerberg, site manager of RSPB Coquet Island told The Ambler “Numbers of Arctic Terns on Coquet have declined in the last two years because of bird flu and this year’s breeding population was the lowest since 1996.
“However the birds that did breed this year produced more chicks per pair than ever before on the island.”
