Disastrous nesting season at Shetland Great Skua colony
0ae2f965-3a9e-4ec9-93ab-60dd8e91fe4e
Great Skua had a disastrous breeding season at a Shetland colony last year as bird flu wreaked havoc.
The Isle of Noss is a small, previously inhabited island in Shetland, separated from the island of Bressay by the narrow Noss Sound. In 2022, the breeding population of Great Skua there fell by a staggering 78% as the virus decimated the colony.
Great Skua numbers at Noss NNR crashed by 78% in 2022 (Ian Chivers).
The species also fared badly at Hermaness NNR, an important breeding site on Unst. It is the second year in a row that the species has suffere a dire breeding season in Shetland, after a grim 2021.
Furthermore, breeding numbers of Northern Gannets dropped by 16.6% on Noss in 2022.
