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Kittiwake added to the list of British birds facing global extinction...and plastic is partly to blame

Kittiwakes used to be commonplace on British coasts but have dropped dramatically in recent years  - www.alamy.com
Kittiwakes used to be commonplace on British coasts but have dropped dramatically in recent years - www.alamy.com

The kittiwake has been added to the list of British birds facing global extinction, with plastic, pollution, climate change and overfishing blamed for catastrophic declines this century.

The familiar seabirds used to nest in their millions around UK’s shores but now only around 300,000 breeding pairs remain.

It is the first British bird to be added to the IUCN’s Red List where plastic has been a factor in its decline. Kittiwakes have been known to drown in fishing nets while oil pollution and plastic litter can kill chicks in the nest.

Since 2000 bird populations have dropped by 87 percent in Orkney and Shetland, and by 96 per cent on St Kilda in the Western Isles.

Earlier this year, a two month Greenpeace survey of the important kittiwake stronghold Bass Rock, in the Firth of Forth, found plastic bags, packaging and netting strewn in nesting sites, and microplastics in the water.

The RSPB said plastics and pollution made survival even harder for populations which were already struggling to feed themselves and their young.

Plastic found on Bass Rock by Greenpeace - Credit: Greenpeace 
Plastic found on Bass Rock by Greenpeace Credit: Greenpeace

Laura Bambini, the RSPB Scotland’s seabird recovery officer said, “Some efforts are underway to protect important seabird foraging areas in international waters, but there is much more we could do around the UK to protect our internationally important and increasingly threatened seabird populations.”

Globally, the species is thought to have declined by around 40 per cent since the 1970s, justifying today’s uplisting from Least Concern to Vulnerable.

In the North Sea, sandeels provide a vital food source for breeding seabirds and they are crucial to the breeding success of kittiwakes. However, they are heavily fished to be used for animal feed and fertiliser.

A Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla at Bullers of Buchan Aberdeenshire Scotland - Credit:  David Tipling Photo Library / Alamy Stock Photo
A Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla at Bullers of Buchan Aberdeenshire Scotland Credit: David Tipling Photo Library / Alamy Stock Photo

Rising sea temperatures due to climate change also threaten sandeels, so kittiwake food supplies could be affected by both local and large-scale processes.

“We need to ensure that the future management of the sandeel fishery is sustainable. If our internationally important populations of seabirds are going to cope with climate change, then we need to make sure industrial fisheries are not adding to their problems”, said Dr Euan Dunn, the RSPB’s Marine Policy Specialist.

“This is an example of why fisheries policy is vital to the health of our seas. Our thinking on fisheries and marine protection must be as joined up as the seas on which we all rely.

Others birds listed as at risk in Britain include the Atlantic Puffin; European Turtle Dove; Pochard; Slavonian Grebe; Balearic Shearwater; Long-tailed Duck; Velvet Scoter and Aquatic Warbler.