Climate change is already impacting UK bird populations - RSPB
A new RSPB and British Trust for Ornithology report looks at the impacts on UK birds and the actions we can take to protect them.
Climate change is reshaping bird populations across the UK, with some of our most familiar and vulnerable species under increasing pressure. That’s the latest assessment from the RSPB and British Trust for Ornithology’s (BTO) Climate Change and UK Birds report, which confirms that it’s driving major shifts for our birds.
This includes where species live, how common they are, and the timing of key life events like breeding and migration. Rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns and more frequent extreme weather events are accelerating these changes. As a result, some of the UK’s most vulnerable birds are already declining.
Seabirds and upland birds are struggling
Our report shows that seabirds are among those most severely affected by climate change. Numbers of Puffins and Arctic Terns, for example, are being negatively impacted by warming seas, reduced food supplies and greater exposure to storms.
Existing research shows that without conservation action, in a worst-case scenario of high carbon emission levels, some seabird species could even decline by more than 70% by 2050. These huge losses are likely to be worsened by other pressures too, such as habitat loss and human disturbance.
Upland species, such as Dotterels and Golden Plovers, are also particularly vulnerable to changing habitat conditions. For example, climate change is lowering moisture levels in the soil, reducing numbers of craneflies which are a key food source for these birds. This impacts these already rare species’ breeding success.