Black-throated Diver
Surfbirds News: RSPB Archives
red-throated divers
by the RSPB and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has found the two species have increased in the UK by 16 and 34 per cent respectively in the last 12 years.
Both have declined in Europe overall and the black-throated diver was last week made a conservation priority by the UK government because of the declines elsewhere.
Black-throated Diver, Highland, June 2006 © Stuart Elsom
Man-made rafts, anchored in remote Scottish lochs, are thought to be helping the rarer black-throated diver breed more successfully but the good fortunes of the red-throated diver – the bird whose winter numbers altered the huge London Array wind farm – are a mystery, conservationists say.
Stuart Benn, Senior Conservation Officer for the RSPB, said: “To be increasing the numbers of these birds while they decline elsewhere is fantastic.
'Both species are highlights of the uplands - they look stunning and make some of the most fascinating sounds in nature. Divers are celebrated in American culture and should be similarly lauded and applauded here. They are brilliant birds.”
|
