Scotland’s breeding seabird population shows small rise

Scotland’s breeding seabird population has increased after more than 20 years in decline, according to a report published yesterday.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) said new statistics showed a “slight increase” in seabirds including Arctic terns, blacklegged kittiwakes, common terns, little terns, northern gannets and sandwich terns. However, it said some birds would have perished in the storm dubbed the “beast from the east” earlier this year, and the overall long-term picture for seabirds remains one of decline.

The latest figures, from SNH’s annual Biodiversity Indicator for Seabirds, have been welcomed as “promising” nonetheless, after the number of seabirds breeding around Scotland’s coasts more than halved since 1986.

Simon Foster, SNH’s trends and indicator analyst, said: “We’re still a long way from reaching the high numbers of the 1980s and 1990s.

“It’s possible we may never see the same level as in the past, but it’s promising to see small increases instead of decreases over the last few years.

“The number of chicks produced was higher than the average over the past three decades. As seabirds are long-lived and don’t start breeding until they’re three or four years old, it’s still too early to say if these birds will return to bolster colonies.

“It’s also too early to say what effect the ‘beast from the east’ will have for Scotland’s seabirds, though we do know that some of our breeding seabirds will have died in the storm.”

Scotland’s breeding seabirds are of international importance. A total of 24 species of seabird regularly breed in Scotland, although they are currently in long-term decline.