Sharp decline in UK seabirds: Five more species join the the Red List

Packed with nesting birds in peak season, the UK's rugged cliffs are internationally renowned as a seabird breeding sanctuary. The sight of gulls on the shores of seaside towns is also a familiar one. 

But a recent survey shows many seabird species are struggling to survive, amongst them the common gull. 

The Birds of Conservation Concern report, compiled by several conservation groups including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), shows a sharp decline for five species, added to those already listed as endangered. 

"We've seen over the past 30, 40 years, more and more birds have been added to this Red List," says Simon Wrobel, a Senior Marine Policy Officer at the RSPB. "Back in 1996, there was one seabird on the Red List, this year we've seen the longest addition to the Red List, so we're now at 10 seabirds of the 28 that were assessed."

Newly endangered species

Newly added to the Red List are the common gull, great black-backed gull, great skua and Leach's petrel, joining other species such as puffins and kittiwakes already considered endangered. One of the biggest issues they face is sourcing sufficient food. 

"Seabirds are really a bit of a canary in the coal mine for the health of the wider marine ecosystem," says Alec Taylor, Director of Policy and Research at the marine campaign group Oceana UK. "If the seabirds at the top of the food webs aren't doing well and don't have enough food to eat, then it's really showing how badly damaged the shores and seas are in general.

"From industrial overfishing to seabeds being destroyed by bottom trawling, to pollution, all of these things are adding up to the fact that these seabirds – in the face of a climate crisis – are not having healthy places to live and healthy stocks of food to eat."

Threats to seabirds

Seabirds face a range of threats, from overfishing to pollution and marine development. Bird flu has also wiped out tens of thousands of seabirds. 

"In the UK the last couple of years, the biggest threat has almost certainly been highly pathogenic avian influenza – bird flu. And that just rampaged through our colonies, particularly in 2022 and 2023," says Viola Ross-Smith, Science Communications Manager at the British Trust for Ornithology, which gathered the data for the recent report. 

A shortage of sand eels is another key factor driving numbers down. 

"So many of our seabirds that are now on that Red List - puffins, kittiwakes - massively rely on sand eels. Sand eels are one of the foundation forage fish species, that baseline of the food chain almost in the North Sea," says the RSPB's Wrobel. 

In a boost for vulnerable seabirds, in March 2024, the UK government banned sand eel fishing in its North Sea waters. But the decision has angered Danish fishermen and now the EU is challenging the ban. Conservationists hope it will hold. 

"We know that fishing, including for sand eels, is still the primary pressure on marine ecosystems," says Oceana's Taylor. "It's the main reason why these ecosystems are still in a degraded state. And by simply removing that pressure, allowing these fish the time and space to recover, we are really giving resilience back to nature."

Climate change and attitude change

Seabirds are also struggling with consequences of climate change, increasingly extreme weather and changes in the sea impacting fish stocks. 

"As our sea surface temperatures warm, the prey that seabirds rely on is moving north. And so, this is affecting how successfully seabirds can nest in places like the UK," says Ross-Smith.

Campaigners are calling for change. 

"We know the ocean can bounce back, we know that too much of UK seas are currently unprotected, and we really want this new government to take those threats seriously and present a new vision for ocean recovery," says Taylor. 

"I think if we can restore the fish stocks that those sea birds feed on, reduce the pressures on their breeding colonies, we can give life back to some of those coastal colonies."

It's not all bad news for seabirds – some species are showing potentially small signs of recovery. Nature charities believe that with the right action at sea, the tide could turn for others.