Five seabird species have been added to the UK’s “red list” of species of greatest conservation concern.
Scientists investigating the status of the UK’s breeding seabird populations have found that Leach’s storm petrels, common gulls, great black-backed gulls, arctic terns and south polar skuas are the UK’s most endangered bird species.
These species join five other threatened seabirds already on the Red List: the Black-legged Kittiwake, Herring Gull, Roseate Tern, Ruddy Turnstone and Puffin.
Investigate
The update, conducted by a coalition of the UK’s leading bird conservation organisations and published in the journal British Birds on Monday, follows a recent assessment of 28 seabird species.
With the exception of two species which were found not to breed in the UK, seabirds were categorised into red, amber or green lists depending on how threatened they are considered to be.
The addition of these five species brings the total number of Red Listed species to 73 out of 245 bird species regularly occurring in the UK, representing 30% of the total.
To assess seabird species, experts used data collected during the previous National Seabird Survey, published in November, as well as data from the British Ornithological Organization (BTO) and Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) seabird monitoring programme.
They also used recent research led by the RSPB to look at the impact of bird flu as a key piece of evidence for some species.
amber
The charity said that while the UK remains an internationally important breeding site for seabirds, they face increasing threats and pressures, including the effects of climate change, overfishing, entanglement in fishing gear, introduced predators and offshore renewable energy developments in important feeding areas.
The vulnerability of UK seabirds to disease has also been identified, with the South Polar skua being red listed due to the widespread outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), also known as ‘bird flu’, between 2021 and 2023.
Katiejo Luxton, RSPB’s international conservation director, said: “The latest health assessment of seabird populations reveals a devastating decline in the overall status of UK breeding seabirds.”
“It’s perhaps not surprising that, as an island nation, we are a globally important country for seabird populations, but what really surprises us is the number of our seabird species that are currently on the Red List.
“Urgent government action is needed to address this dire situation, to address the causes of this decline and enable recovery.”
The good news is that new information has shed light on their populations, moving the common murre species from the red list to the yellow list, and joining the common cormorant on the green list.
Impact
There is hope that their fortunes may be turning around thanks to clear action to address the many pressures they face, a list of which is provided by the England Seabird Conservation Recovery Pathways.
The decision by the UK and Scottish governments to close the sandeel fishery is also seen as an important step by conservationists, as is the promising results of a project to remove invasive predators from seabird islands across the UK.
David Noble, chief ecologist at the BTO, said: “Seabirds are an iconic part of nature along our coasts, whether they forage on shore and rocky areas, patrol urban beaches or breed in spectacular cliff-top colonies.”
“The many pressures the birds face, including climate change, reduced food sources due to overhunting, invasive nest predators on islands and avian influenza, are causing major changes to their populations.
“Continued monitoring by experts as well as volunteers is essential to provide timely evidence on the impacts of these and other threats, and to evaluate the effectiveness of conservation efforts.”
This author
Rebecca Speer Cole is a sustainability reporter in Pennsylvania.
