For 2nd Year, Breeding, Nesting Behaviors Fail In UK Seabird Colonies

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"Internationally important populations of seabirds are failing to breed for the second year in a row.

Conservationists have warned colonies on Orkney and Shetland could face collapse if the problem, blamed on global warming, continues. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said kittiwakes, terns, and arctic skuas on the islands were failing to build nests and take part in mating displays.

Reserves run by the RSPB and the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) have reported low numbers of birds at normally busy colonies, including on the mainland where seabirds last year bred successfully. The lack of activity is highly unusual so late in the spring, prompting fears of a repeat of last year's disastrous breeding season on the northern isles, when thousands of seabirds failed to raise any young at all.

Seabirds rely on sandeels for food and it is thought higher sea temperatures have pushed the sandeels further north in search of colder water and the plankton on which they feed."

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http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/40510.html