A SMALL gull usually known for the “cacophony” it creates in its rock-fast Scottish breeding colonies has joined the list of birds facing global extinction – as sea cliffs formerly echoing with its deafening noise fall eerily silent.

The black-legged kittiwake has seen its breeding populations fall by 87 per cent since 2000 in its former strongholds in Orkney and Shetland, and as much as 96 per cent on St Kilda, where the “gentle- looking” gulls were once so plentiful that despite the lack of meat on each bird they were regarded as a food source in times of hardship by the remote island’s people.

Worldwide, the kittiwake is thought to have declined by around 40 per cent since the 1970s, causing its status to be raised from “least concern” to “vulnerable” in the latest annual revision of birds on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, announced today by BirdLife International.

Experts say climate change, affecting plankton, and over-fishing, affecting the availability and quality of sandeels, a crucial food source during the breeding season, is behind the kittiwake’s plight.

Some 77 per cent of Britain’s entire breeding population of kittiwakes is found in Scotland.

Conservation charity RSPB Scotland say that, in the North Sea, sandeels provide a vital food source for many species of seabird and are crucial to the breeding success of kittiwakes.

However, sandeels are threatened by rising sea temperatures and are the target of industrial fishing.

Danish sandeel trawlers, operating under the EU’s common fisheries policy to catch sandeels to be used as animal feed and fertilizer, have been blamed in the past.

Alex Kinninmonth, RSPB Scotland’s Head of Marine Policy, said: “Frequent and widespread breeding failure is now being observed in several of Scotland’s breeding seabird species, particularly those reliant on sandeels.

“Kittiwakes are among the worst hit and are clearly struggling to cope with the effects of a changing food supply.

“If they are to have any hope, it’s critically important that we act on climate change, and make sure added pressure from fisheries, pollution and marine development don’t make an already bad situation far worse.”

Experts predicted last year that the kittiwake population on St Kilda could soon vanish altogether.

Dr Richard Luxmoore, senior nature conservation adviser at the National Trust for Scotland, warned at the time: “If the inhabitants of St Kilda were to come back now nearly 90 years after their evacuation and see the cliffs that were once teeming with seabirds now almost empty, they would be horrified.”

In the rest of the UK, the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle, and the buildings around it, is famous for hosting the largest inland breeding colony of kittiwakes in the world.

The noise there can still be deafening, but numbers are dwindling.

The Herald:

On the brink: Five of Scotland’s other most endangered species

By Jody Harrison 

  • WATER VOLES

Genetically distinct from its cousins in England and Wales, the Scottish water vole is one of the country’s most endangered animals after a century of intensive farming and other pressures destroyed much of its habitat. Water voles usually live beside bodies of water, where they feed on grasses and herbs growing on the banks and dig their burrows. But these areas are under threat from grazing and urbanisation.

  • RED SQUIRRELS

Once the only native squirrel species in the British Isles, the red squirrel has fought a losing battle against grey squirrels imported from America to estates in the UK in 1870s then let loose into the wild.
Smaller than they grey strain, red squirrels have been pushed from many of their domains and are now concentrated in pockets in the Highlands and the north east.
Recent estimates suggest their numbers could be as low as 120,000. 

  • CAPERCALLIE 

One of the largest grouse species, a male capercallie can weigh up to 4kg and its Gaelic name means “horse of the forest”. But the species has declined significantly since the 1970s, with just a few small, isolated and vulnerable populations remaining. Efforts to conserve the species have been adopted by many land owners and managers. 

  • Scottish WILD CAT

The “Highland Tiger” remains one of Scotland’s most iconic animals. Elusive and hard to track down, conservationists disagree on how many are left - with numbers varying from as low as 35 to as many as 400. Yet it is widely recognised that the animals are critically endangered, due to interbreeding with domestic cats and relentless persecution from farmers in decades past. 

  • GOLDEN EAGLE

The second-largest bird of prey in the UK, golden eagles solely make their home in Scotland, most notably in the Highlands and the Borders. Once facing extinction, their numbers have recovered through careful management and conservation and number around 500 breeding pairs. Yet the raptor remains under threat from illegal persecution and ongoing loss of habitat.