UK Nature and Environment

A precious stone set in a silver sea. The British have long considered their isles a sort of Eden and seabirds would certainly concur: with 19,491 miles of coastline and fish-rich seas to plunder, our avian neighbours unsurprisingly find the place an absolute des res.

For statistical starters, 80% of the world’s Manx shearwater breed here, 60% of great skua and 34% of European shag. It’s not only the quantity of our coastline that draws them in, it’s the quality: the wave-girded inaccessible islets and the towering sea cliffs with ledges that provide near impregnable nesting refuges for seabirds. Skomer was once the haunt of men — Vikings — now, it is the home of Manx shearwaters and puffins.

That question, of course, is: what is a seabird? Peregrines and choughs live on cliffs, but they are not seabirds. A true example is an avian that relies on the ocean to survive and whose body has evolved for the marine world, often developing what amounts to superpowers in the process.