Dwindling seabirds on a wing and a prayer

Breeding numbers in some of Scotland’s most precious seabird colonies have slumped, with birds in some areas failing to produce a single chick.

As experts warned of a “terrible season” in some internationally important nesting colonies, the RSPB has called on the UK and Scottish governments to protect areas of the sea where the birds are known to forage.

The numbers in some southern bird reserves in England and Wales have increased this year, and numbers generally on the east coast of Scotland were up. But seabird breeding performance in a number of Scotland’s northern coastal reserves shows serious and continuing problems, said the RSPB, with severe declines on the numbers ten years ago.

Bird counts show the Northern Isles were hardest hit, with significant drops in sensitive species like Arctic terns and kittiwakes in Orkney.

A full colony count at Marwick Head reserve on the Orkney mainland showed a 53 per cent decline in numbers since the last full census of the UK’s seabird populations in 2000, with a 22 per cent decline since the last colony count in 2006.

Guillemots and kittiwakes failed to produce a single chick at Noup Head, also in Orkney. The single pair of kittiwakes at North Hill reserve, Papa Westray, that once had more than 150 pairs of breeding kittiwakes, also did not raise any young, and breeding pairs of Arctic skuas were down by nearly half.

The Troup Head reserve in Moray reported the biggest drop in guillemot numbers, experiencing a 66 per cent decline since 2001.

Doug Gilbert, head of reserves ecology for RSPB Scotland, said: “The terrible season for critical colonies in the far north warns us that seabird populations in the UK remain in real danger.”

Bad weather and food shortages, such as a decline in the number of sand eels, are among likely causes.

The nests of birds in the Western Isles and Inner Hebrides were hit by May gales.

The RSPB called on governments in Scotland, England and Wales to ensure that areas of the sea that are important to birds, particularly for foraging, are included in proposed networks of Marine Protected Areas.

Sharon Thompson, senior marine policy officer at the charity, said: “Whether populations are in decline, in good health or improving, marine protected areas are an important tool for protecting the areas that are vital for seabirds at sea.”

While protection laws are in place, and a network of protected sites under discussion, “the needs of some of our most precious sealife are not being considered properly”, she said.

This year’s breeding season showed some successes. Conservationists discovered 15 occupied burrows of Leach’s storm petrel on the Ramna Stacks and Gurney area in Shetland. Razorbills and guillemots had a relatively successful year in England and Wales.

But while numbers across the east coast of Scotland pointed to better breeding productivity this year, it far from offset the huge fall in guillemot and kittiwake numbers over the last ten.