03 Apr 2025
Nature charities are pressing the prime minister and chancellor to stop demonising wildlife and to urgently strengthen environmental protections in new planning laws, the Guardian reported. The RSPB, the National Trust and the Wildlife Trusts, are calling on MPs to back amendments to the planning and infrastructure bill to end what they say is the […]
19 Nov 2024
A coalition of UK and EU NGOs join together to support the closure of the UK sandeel fishery in the North Sea. The full statement: Seabirds are experiencing devastating declines. Just two months ago, five new species were added to the UK Red List of highest conservation concern. Puffins, which depend on sandeels for food, […]
28 Oct 2024
The European Union (EU) has decided to request the establishment of an arbitration tribunal under the dispute settlement mechanism of the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) concerning the United Kingdom’s decision to prohibit the fishing of sandeel. The arbitration tribunal would rule on the compatibility of the measure with the TCA. The ban has […]
07 Oct 2024
The annual update from Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL) into progress in England on the target to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030 (the “30×30 target”) has been published. Campaigners are calling for a rapid rescue package for nature – including designating more English waters as Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs). The annual […]
20 Sep 2024
The UK has become the first nation to map and estimate the amount of carbon stored in its seabed habitats, including in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The Blue Carbon Mapping Project, completed by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) on behalf of WWF, The Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB, reveals that 244 million tonnes […]
03 Sep 2024
A new scientific assessment has reported steep declines in the UK’s seabird populations over the last 25 years. Five new species have joined the “red List”, which denotes the highest category of conservation concern and means a risk of local extinction: Leach’s storm-petrels, common gulls, great black-backed gulls, Arctic terns and great skuas. These join the […]
19 Feb 2024
Bird flu has caused a “catastrophic” fall in the number of seabirds in the UK, a study of breeding sites by the RSPB has found. In some species the charity said bird flu had “completely reversed” previously positive trends. The number of gannet nests at Grassholm in Pembrokeshire – the main colony in Wales and […]
13 Feb 2024
English seabird populations are in decline. Breeding populations have declined by at least 20-30% since the early 1990s and without intervention these internationally important seabird populations will continue to decline. The same can be said across the UK: the latest figures from the Seabirds Count (2015-2021) shows almost 62% of seabird species in decline across the UK […]
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