Sea birds in danger of dying out in UK, warns RSPB

Louise Gray, The Telegraph 30 Oct 08;

Sea birds species are in danger of dying out in the UK, the RSPB has warned, after one of the worst breeding seasons on record due to climate change.

The latest figures shows that kittiwakes, Arctic terns and Arctic skuas nesting off the northern coast of Scotland have had a terrible season, with virtually no chicks reared to fledging.

The RSPB blamed changes in food supply, which may be linked to climate change, and could ultimately threaten the future of these species in the UK.

However other seabird species seem to be weathering the storm. Great skuas, gannets and cormorants have experienced modest increases in their numbers, while herring gulls have remained stable.

Earlier this year, the RSPB predicted a bad breeding season, after noticing abandoned nests and empty cliffs during the spring where there should have been tens of thousands of seabirds.

Now the colony counts in Scotland have confirmed that many species in the north have again suffered major collapses in breeding success this year. The evidence suggests that repeated annual breeding failures are now substantially reducing populations of those species worst affected, with some cliffs that used to support huge colonies experiencing steep population declines.

Kittiwakes
Kittiwakes have been hit very hard, particularly on Orkney. At RSPB's Copinsay reserve, a count of the whole colony found only 1,881 pairs, a 57 per cent decline on 1999 figures, and at North Hill they have declined by 89 per cent in the same period, with just 14 pairs counted this year.

On the Scottish mainland colony at Mull of Galloway, too, the situation for Kittiwakes is bleak, with a 50 per cent reduction in the population since 2005 to just 65 pairs this year.

Arctic skua
RSPB reserves on Shetland and Orkney have seen a 30 per cent decline in nesting pairs in just one year to 65 pairs. Crucially though, these pairs produced a dismal three chicks in total to the fledging stage. In ecological terms, this is equivalent to virtually no breeding success this year.

Arctic Tern
Some 1,000 nests on RSPB reserves in Orkney and Shetland were abandoned early in the season while reports from areas on the islands away from RSPB reserves also suggest that virtually no young Arctic terns were fledged this year.

Douglas Gilbert, an ecologist with RSPB Scotland, said warmer seas may be affecting the food chain as a decline in plankton causes less sandeels that the seabirds rely on.

He said: "RSPB Reserves are acting as an indicator of the wider fortunes of seabirds around our coasts.

"The outlook for some species such as Arctic skua, kittiwake and Arctic tern is dire, and there are problems with other species like guillemots and puffins in some areas too.

"Unless conditions change to allow these birds the chance of successful breeding, the long-term future for them is bleak. The evidence that this is linked to changes in sea surface temperatures is now growing."