Five seabirds added to UK red list of most concern

Five seabird taxon person been added to the UK reddish database of birds astatine astir request of conservation, joining others specified arsenic the puffin.

The caller entries see the Arctic tern, known for its unthinkable migration, the elephantine skua, oregon pirate of the sea, and 2 types of gull.

The UK is known for its colonies of seabirds nesting successful immense numbers connected cliffs - but populations are plummeting amid a big of pressures, from clime alteration to a deficiency of food.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is calling for urgent authorities enactment to code "this dire situation".

"As an land nation, it is possibly not astonishing that we are globally important for seabird populations," RSPB planetary conservation manager Katie-jo Luxton said.

"But what has truly shocked america is the sheer fig of our seabird taxon present connected the reddish list."

Of the 26 seabirds that breed connected the UK's coastlines and islands, 10 are present connected the list.

The 5 caller entries are:

• the large black-backed gull - a precise ample gull with achromatic wings and a almighty beak that nests astir the coast, connected clifftops, rooftops and islands

• the large skua - besides known arsenic the pirate of the seas, it volition bargain from different taxon and was peculiarly hard deed by avian flu

• Leach’s tempest petrel - an elusive seabird that nests connected offshore islands, peculiarly connected the north-west seashore of Scotland
• common gull - a medium-sized gull scarcer than its sanction suggests that nests astir lakes successful the northbound of England and Scotland
• the Arctic tern - a coastal vertebrate with achromatic feathers and a achromatic headdress that breeds chiefly successful the bluish UK and flies to the Antarctic successful winter

Five different seabirds were already connected the database - the puffin, kittiwake, herring gull, roseate tern and arctic skua.

Seabirds are successful occupation due to the fact that of clime change, unsustainable sportfishing practices, offshore renewable-energy improvement and situation loss.

According to past year’s Seabirds Count, the biggest UK census for 20 years, 62% of UK seabird taxon are successful diminution – kittiwakes and communal gulls are down astir 50% and puffin numbers person fallen by a quarter.

“We should beryllium truly acrophobic astir this, due to the fact that the UK is truly important for breeding seabirds," British Trust for Ornithology surveys caput Dawn Balmer, caput of surveys said.

RSPB marine argumentation serviceman Jean Duggan called it a "wake-up call".

"It’s not conscionable astir safeguarding these taxon for ourselves astatine home, it's besides safeguarding planetary populations and preventing aboriginal extinctions,” she said.

There is bully quality for immoderate of the seabirds that breed successful the UK, with the shag moving from the reddish database to the amber and the achromatic guillemot from the amber to the green.

But of the 245 birds regularly seen successful the UK, including farmland, woodland and plot birds arsenic good arsenic seabirds, 73 (30%) are present connected the reddish list.