Seabirds across Scotland are set to benefit from a major new funding initiative aimed at reversing decades of population decline by protecting and restoring vital seabird habitats across its coastlines and islands.

The Scottish Marine Environmental Enhancement Fund has released a £1.6 million Seabird Resilience Fund to support practical conservation work targeting threats such as invasive species, habitat degradation, and the impacts of climate change.

The fund – which has been backed by voluntary contributions from nine offshore wind energy developers – arrives as seabird populations across Scotland continue to face immense pressures. Since 1986, coastal breeding bird numbers have plummeted by nearly 50% with factors such as reduced food availability and warming seas contributing to the crisis.

Despite this long-term decline, recent data has offered a glimmer of hope. Some species – including the black-legged kittiwake, European shag, and common guillemot – have shown signs of short-term recovery. The new fund aim to build on these positive trends, enabling direct intervention to help seabird populations recover and build long-term resilience.

With some 24 species nesting regularly along its coasts, Scotland plays a crucial role in global seabird conservation. The country hosts approximately 60% of the world’s great skua population, 46% of northern gannets, and 16% of Manx shearwaters. Conservationists hope the new fund can make a meaningful impact not just nationally, but on the international stage, too.

To kickstart the work of this programme, the Scottish Marine Environment Enhancement Fund will fund biosecurity survey work on vulnerable island habitats in the 2025 season. These islands are especially vulnerable to non-native predators like rats and invasive plants, which can devastate seabird nesting sites. 

Cathay Tilbrook, NatureScot head of sustainable coasts and seas, said: “The Seabird Resilience Fund will support action to address some of the many threats our seabird populations are facing. Funding on this scale comes at a crucial time. The challenge is significant but there are small signs of hope, with some populations stabilising.

“We want to support that trend and deliver innovative projects to help seabirds recover and thrive.”

Last month, conservation groups wrote to the Scottish government urging it to reject plans to develop an offshore windfarm on Berwick Bank, claiming it would be “catastrophic” for seabirds with the potential to kill 50,000 individual birds over its lifetime.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, RSPB Scotland, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, and the National Trust for Scotland were among those to appeal to the Scottish First Minister, John Swinney in a call to refuse planning consent.

The proposed development – which would be one of the largest in the world – consists of up to 307 turbines across an area four times the size of Edinburgh. It is positioned about 23 miles from the important seabird colonies of the St Abb’s Head National Nature Reserve and the Bass Rock. Its developer, SSE, says it has already amended designs to minimise any potential risks to Scottish seabirds.

Its own environmental impact assessment says it expects more than 31,000 bird collisions over the projected 35-year lifespan of the development. The largest number expecting to be killed are kittiwakes followed by gannets and herring gulls.

“I’ve never seen a development with so much potential damage,” said RSPB Scotland director, Anne McCall.

The conservation groups argue that technology has advanced significantly since Berwick Bank was conceived and that floating wind farms, further offshore, would be a better alternative.

SSE Renewables submitted its planning application to the Scottish government in late 2022 and is still awaiting a decision. It says it has conducted one of the largest known ornithology surveys in the world as part of the application process and that it disagrees strongly with the points put forward by the five conservation groups in opposition.

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