Exclusive: Threat of losing certain bird species altogether – new data shows

Britain’s seabird colonies have been called our Serengeti. The sheer number of species gathered in the spring, a parallel to East Africa’s savannah migrations of larger animals and predators.

Both, globally critical to earth’s biodiversity. But new monitoring data to be released tomorrow and given exclusively to Channel 4 News will show we are now in real danger of losing some of our species altogether.

The data comes in a new report by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO); the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

Red List

It focuses on the notorious Red List, the club nobody wants to join: bird species in real danger of disappearing from our remote cliffs and beaches.

There are five new additions. The Arctic Tern, rightly famed for its incredible 50,000 mile globe-spanning migration each year – their numbers are 60% down since the 80s.

The Common Gull, always tragically misnamed it seems – down around 50% this century.

Our largest gull, the Greater Black-Backed, also down 50%. The Bonxie – Great Skua – badly hit by Bird Flu so joining the list.

Finally, devastating news for the Leach’s Petrel, 80% gone since the millennium and now in real danger of extinction globally.

They join Kittiwake, Herring Gull, Roseate Tern, Arctic Skua and Puffin, all sadly already on the red list.

Helen McLachlan, Head of Marine Policy, Scotland for the RSPB, told us:

“Seabirds face a range of threats and pressures. Overfishing of some of their prey species, by-catch, impacts from development at sea and climate change is an overarching one which is impacting both their breeding areas and the food that they are preying on.”

Positive Findings

The news isn’t all bad for our seabirds. One species – the Shag – went the right way, moving from red to amber because of better data on population numbers. Black Guillemots also join Cormorants where they all need to be: the green list.

Then comes the Bird Flu effect.  A year ago we walked past the colony of Arctic Terns which dominates the beach at Long Nanny in Northumberland. Carcasses of dead birds dotted the beach at the UK’s largest nesting colony of these remarkable birds.

James Porteus, a National Trust ranger reflects on two years of the birds here being hit by the virus:

“Our ranger team collected over 1,000 arctic tern chicks and also about 250 arctic tern adult birds that had died. They have the longest migrations of any bird in the entire world. So to see them being put on the red list is obviously very difficult but we will continue our efforts here to protect the breeding colony at Long Nanny and hopefully at least the breeding colony here can continue to have some successful years in future.”

The good news is that numbers have improved this year. Some species like Gannets appeared to develop immunity to Bird Flu first and there are now signs that other species – mercifully – may be beginning to do so too.

Challenges continue

Also, using new post-Brexit powers, the previous UK govt took decisive action, shutting down the commercial fishing of Sand Eels in all Scottish waters and the English North Sea, safeguarding the staple food of threatened species like Kittiwakes and the Sea Parrot – Puffins. (Nothing is easy mind: the EU is trying to appeal this).

Diseases though, are only predicted to get more frequent in a warming world, along with all the other challenges these species face. Tomorrow’s report warns that family favourites like the Puffin and Kittiwake are also now at risk of not just being lost from our shores, but facing global extinction.

All of which points to a salutary reminder. This government has both a manifesto and a legal obligation to halt and reverse extinctions by 2030. That job has now become even more urgent.