Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) Photo by By Chuck Homler, Focus On Wildlife – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=151390421

Dear Readers, I have been a bit remiss on the subject of Red List British birds just lately, but the task of keeping up is getting harder and harder. Earlier this year I reported that a number of seabirds had been added to the List of Birds of Conservation Concern (the Red List).This month, the British Trust for Ornithology have added four wading birds to the list. First up is the Grey Plover (Black-bellied Plover in North America) (Pluvialis squatarola). A large population of Grey Plovers spend their winters on estuaries right around the UK, but globally their population has declined by 30 per cent, moving them from the IUCN’s category of Least Concern to Vulnerable, a jump of two categories.

Then there’s the Dunlin (Calidris alpina). This little bird has a variety of complicated migratory routes but British estuaries are key, often as stopping off points on their journey further north. Numbers visiting the UK have declined by 20 per cent since the 2000s, and the bird has been moved one category from Least Concern to Near Threatened.

Dunlin (Calidris alpina) Photo by By Jevgenijs Slihto from Riga, Latvia – Dunlin, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42966339

The Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) used to be a common sight, running  along the tideline looking for small invertebrates (and often, literally, turning over stones). My Crossley Guide describes it memorably as ‘the sausage dog of waders’. This bird has declined by 20 per cent since the mid 2000s, and has moved from Least Concern to Near Threatened.

Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) Photo by By © Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15222118

Finally, there’s the Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea). This was already a scarce migrant in the UK, but has declined by over 30 percent globally, meaning that it has moved from Near Threatened to Vulnerable.

Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) Photo by By JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24360331

For those of you wondering what the different categories mean, there’s an explanation here,

So what’s going on? A lot of the usual things: pollution, development along the coastline, possibly light pollution. Climate change brings sea level rise, which changes the profile of coastal areas, making them unsuitable for particular species of birds – the coast provides many different precise niches, of varying water depths, types of mud, communities of invertebrates etc, and these can be easily disrupted.

The UK is also affected by short-stopping – migratory birds don’t bother to come as far north as our shores if they can get what they need further south. Sadly, these wading birds have seen global declines, not just declines on our shores, so this is a much wider problem.

There are various things that could be done in the UK – more protected coastal areas would at least limit development, plus putting pressure on water companies to clean up their act is already happening. Sea level rise is a more long-term threat and if COP29 is anything to go by, the global will to do something about climate change is, to say the least, not a priority.

I’ll be having a further look at individual species over the next few weeks, but for now, have a listen to the calls of these declining seabirds. Whenever I hear them I can practically smell the sea, and hear the waves.

Grey Plover

Dunlin

Ruddy Turnstone

Curlew Sandpiper