Can you help North Devon seabirds and their homes?

Along the tip of North Devon, a unique and interesting coastline provides a safe home for many of our marine creatures. Bideford to Foreland Point is protected as a Marine Conservation Zone with high cliffs, and a mix of rocky and sandy shores.

The zone protects rare underwater habitats and fascinating creatures including the pink sea-fan and honeycomb worm reef. Seabirds breed in many places along the coast, in particular common guillemots and razorbills, who find ideal nesting conditions on the North Devon coast’s high cliffs.

Razorbill nesting on a cliff face (c) tigerburnie (Flickr)

Part of this coast is a site of special scientific interest and the birds are protected on land. But without equal protection at sea, those same birds are at risk from fishing nets, pollution or insensitive development. Throughout Europe, their numbers have dropped but the UK is still a stronghold.

Helen Booker, RSPB senior conservation officer, said: “This Marine Conservation Zone runs alongside one of the most important guillemot and razorbill colonies in South West England, and we need to make sure that we can continue to protect them.”

Common guillemots are extremely social animals and live on the high cliffs in large colonies. They don’t build a nest, but instead lay a single large egg on the bare rock or ledge. Razorbills also live on the cliff ledges but spend most of their lives at sea which means protecting the sea around their colonies, extremely important.

Guillemot preening and showing affection (c) Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)

Species can be added to Marine Conservation Zones as a ‘feature’ which allows protection and conservation to be put into place. To stop populations of common guillemot and razorbill from plummeting further, they need to be added as a feature to this zone.

How you can help

Please help by contacting your MP and asking them to write to Thérèse Coffey, Minister for Environment in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs about why the UK Government urgently needs to include this site in the public consultation.

Key points you might like to raise:

• Seabirds are in trouble. Numbers have dropped drastically since 2000 and without adequate protection and management they will struggle to recover.
• Marine Conservation Zones are important for seabirds to ensure that their important areas at sea are protected, just as their nesting areas are on land. These areas provide a safe haven where rare, declining or threatened species can be protected from harmful activity.
• Bideford to Foreland Point is an important site for common guillemot and razorbills which have declined throughout Europe, but they are not protected here at the moment. Having them listed in this Marine Conservation Zone as a feature is essential so that protection can be put into place to stop populations from plummeting.
• A healthy marine environment does more than support healthy seabird populations. We get food from the sea, and it provides fishing jobs for isolated communities around the coast. Tourism and recreation, which depend on clean seas and plenty of wildlife to watch, are also important in small communities as well as bringing in substantial economic benefits to local businesses.

You can find your MP and the various ways to contact them via the Write to Them website. Also, all MPs can be reached by writing to them at House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA.

Please send copies of your letters or e-mails, and any replies, to Vanessa Amaral-Rogers, Campaigning Communications Officer, RSPB, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 2BR. Alternatively you can email us.

Seabirds really need your help; and we can do it with the help of the UK government. Action is needed now if we want to start protecting our iconic seabirds.