RSPB warns of ‘apocalyptic’ seabird decline in Shetland

There has been a dramatic decline in the number of puffins on Shetland.

MARTYN MCLAUGHLIN

Published: 19:27 Sunday 03 June 2018 Updated: 07:58 Monday 04 June 2018

One of Scotland’s most significant seabird colonies has experienced an “apocalyptic” decline in numbers, according to the country’s largest nature conservation charity. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said the sharp drop off in the seabird population in Shetland was unprecedented. Scientists have attributed the downward trend to a series of factors, including climate change, declining food sources and the scourge of plastic pollutants. The charity, which runs a nature reserve at Sumburgh Head on the southern tip of the Shetland mainland, warned the plummeting numbers were “utterly tragic” Helen Moncrieff, RSPB’s area manager for Shetland, said at the society’s sites in Dalsetter and Troswick there were only 110 Arctic terns last week, compared with around 9,000 at the turn of the millennium.

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