Seabirds found with plastic in their stomachs

MANX shearwaters on Skomer Island in Wales are eating glitter and tiny pieces of plastic, scientists have found, raising fears that plastic ingestion could be widespread among seabirds.

UK researchers examined the stomach contents of 34 adult and young birds found dead on the island.

The team found nine out of 12 fledglings and 15 out of 22 adult birds had ingested at least one piece of plastic.

The birds had swallowed more than 70 individual pieces of plastic – all smaller than 5mm, the scientists said.

Dr Louise Gentle, a wildlife conservation researcher at Nottingham Trent University, said: “The majority of birds had at least one plastic piece in their gastrointestinal tract.

“Our study shows that Manx shearwaters on Skomer Island are vulnerable to plastic ingestion and that the adults are likely to pass plastic to their chicks.

“We even found glitter in one of the birds. It was shocking to see so much plastic in the chicks within the first few weeks of their lives.”

Skomer Island, which is off the coast of Pembrokeshire, houses around half the world’s population of Manx shearwater population.

About 440,000 pairs of Manx shearwaters breed on Skomer and neighbouring island Skokholm.

Manx shearwaters are surface feeders, so the researchers believe they could be vulnerable to ingesting floating plastic. The scientists found clear and yellow plastics in the stomachs of adult birds, suggesting the pieces may have been mistaken for prey.

The research was published in the journal Seabird.