RSPB sounds alert on multiple marine issues which are taking deadly toll on Europe's sea ducks

                                                  

Long-tailed Duck - this bird glimpsed inland in non-breeding plumage

AS many as 17,000 Long-tailed Ducks die annually in the Baltic Sea after becoming tangled in fishery gillnets.

So says the RSPB which further suggests that the same fate befalls "thousands" of Eiders and Velvet Scoters.

The latest edition of The RSPB Magazine goes on to warn: "UK sea ducks face a plethora of threats on land and at sea."

These include:

* Coastal development

* Habitat destruction

* Disturbance and predation

* Avian flu

* Oil pollution

* The effects of climate change

* The inappropriate siting of offshore wind turbine arrays.

What can be done? On the problem with accidental gillnet bycatch, trials are being conducted with floating marine scarecrows, off Cornwall as well as in the Baltic, to deter dea ducks from feeeding close to fishing area.

The RSPB employs a bycatch programme manager, Yann Rouxel, who is quoted as saying that these trials have shown "promise", but that other measures are also required to reduce the mortalities.

The Wryneck says: This report is extremely worrying. Because the threats to birdlife at sea are often not as conspicuous as those on land, they tend to get overlooked. It is good that the RSPB has sounded the alarm, but it needs to be much, much more outspoken, urgent and persistent in raising public awareness. It would be tragic if our cherished sea ducks were to be lost to Europe's coastal waters. 

                                

Drake Eider - a handsome-looking bird 

Velvet Scoter - increasingly scarce in British waters