Warning seabird numbers are being hit due to climate change

Many seabirds are struggling in the face of food shortages and storms brought on by climate change, conservationists have warned.

The warning comes as the latest report on breeding seabirds from the Joint Nature Conservation Committee reveals significant declines.

Numbers of black legged kittiwakes are estimated to have halved since 2000, when the last major census of breeding seabirds took place, while Arctic skuas are down 70% and northern fulmars are down 36%.

Other species in decline, according to the annual seabird monitoring programme, include little terns which are down a quarter since 2000, European shags, down 24%, and Arctic terns, with a 13% fall in numbers.

Some species have seen their numbers boosted significantly since 2000, but the RSPB’s marine principal policy officer Gareth Cunningham said they were bucking a overall downward trend.

Mediterranean gulls, whose numbers have soared in the UK in the past two decades, were benefiting from rising temperatures which made this country more suitable for them.

And roseate terns, which have seen numbers double in that time, may have benefited from conservation work to restore its nesting habitat, he said.

“For the majority of other species, it’s a trend of decline,” he said.

One of the UK’s major responses to climate change – the building of offshore wind farms to provide clean energy – may also be having an impact on seabirds, Mr Cunningham said.

They may be sited in key fishing grounds for seabirds, or create a barrier to them, or the turbines could be causing death through collisions.

A new census of seabird numbers is under way.

Picture: RSPB. Kittiwakes are among seabirds suffering due to climate change, a new report says.