Scientists have found that Manx shearwaters on Skomer Island are eating glitter and tiny pieces of plastic, raising fears that plastic ingestion is becoming widespread among the species of seabirds. A team of UK researchers examined the stomach contents of 34 adult and young birds found dead on the Island.
The team found nine out of 12 fledglings and 15 out of 22 adult birds had ingested at least one piece of plastic. In total, the birds had swallowed more than 70 individual pieces of plastic, which were all smaller than 5mm.
Dr Louise Gentle, a wildlife conservation researcher in Nottingham Trent University’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences, said: “The majority of birds had at least one plastic piece in their gastrointestinal tract.
