17 Dec 2024

Climate change, invasive non-native species such as brown rat, food shortages and other pressures are contributing to the dramatic declines seen in seabird numbers. Almost two thirds of Scotland’s seabird species have declined over the last 20 years, with eight including the Arctic tern, kittiwake and black-headed gull declining by more than 50%. The draft […]

12 Nov 2024

The global population of migratory shorebirds across the world saw a substantial decline, with some populations of migratory shorebirds decreasing by more than a third, according to the latest update to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.   Photo: Vilnis Husko   A re-assessment was carried out for around half of the 254 species […]

29 Oct 2024

Since its launch in 2004, the BirdLife Seabird Tracking Database (STDB) has become one of the most comprehensive marine conservation collaborations in the world. It hosts the largest collection of seabird tracking data in existence, transforming how researchers and policymakers address the growing threats to seabirds and the marine environment in general.   Photo: Gannet […]

10 Sep 2024

OSPAR’s Quality Status Report 2023 showed that marine birds continue to be in trouble due to the effects of climate change and other pressures resulting from human activities such as mortality, habitat loss and degradation.   In direct response to this assessment countries from around the North-East Atlantic together with the European Union have adopted an […]

10 Sep 2024

Marine conservation and education charity, the Scottish Seabird Centre, based in East Lothian, was thrilled to receive a grant of £249,685 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund earlier this year. The funding has been awarded to improve the overall sustainability of the Charity’s operations, develop partnerships with business and to better steward and grow its […]

03 Sep 2024

A new scientific assessment has reported steep declines in the UK’s seabird populations over the last 25 years. Five new species have joined the “red List”, which denotes the highest category of conservation concern and means a risk of local extinction: Leach’s storm-petrels, common gulls, great black-backed gulls, Arctic terns and great skuas. These join the […]

30 Jul 2024

Seabirds are among the most threatened creatures globally, often due to incidental mortality (bycatch) in fisheries. Several hundreds of thousands of seabirds are thought to be killed worldwide each year by two of the three main types of fishing gear, gillnets and longlines. However, the extent of global mortality in trawl fisheries has remained largely […]

13 Feb 2024

English seabird populations are in decline. Breeding populations have declined by at least 20-30% since the early 1990s and without intervention these internationally important seabird populations will continue to decline. The same can be said across the UK: the latest figures from the Seabirds Count (2015-2021)  shows almost 62% of seabird species in decline across the UK […]