(Title from the BBC News Website). And the contenders are:
Great Black-backed Gull
Great Skua
Leach’s Storm Petrel
Common Gull
Arctic Tern
They join 5 others (of an alleged 26) already on the Red List
Puffin
Kittiwake
Herring Gull
Roseate Tern
Arctic Skua
Yes I saw that - tragic, the only positive, if you can call it that, is at least they’re reporting it.
Yes, completely horrendous and for many and varied reasons that H.sapiens started, is aware of, and can and should fix.
I am surprised little tern isn’t on the list. What is the list of 26? Total British seabirds?
I wouldn’t expect the BBC to know the list - neither do I.
The Guardian links this source:
this is where to go
Interesting to read but sad. Of course it has been well publicised that avian flu had decimated many seabird colonies.
The Red list is not just birds on the edge of extinction such as Roseate Tern but birds which are still numerous but are declining rapidly. That is why Herring Gull is on the list - there are still lots about.
I’m not sure why Little Tern is not red-listed. Seems surprising to me. I’m assuming that this is all done in a UK context and they are certainly few and far between in England. Their breeding colonies are very prone to disturbance by humans and also foxes, crows and no doubt rats.
The 26 are the seabirds currently breeding in UK. Little tern is in the Amber category. I am surprised to see Yellow-legged Gull in there. I didn’t know they were in Britain.
the YLG is often recorded in the UK but I didn’t know that it was breeding.