Project Overview

Marine ecosystems are under growing pressure from human activities. Seabirds, which travel widely across the ocean, are especially vulnerable to these threats, and many populations have declined in recent decades. To better protect these species, it is important to understand where they go at sea and what environmental factors influence their movements.

A major challenge is that some of the smallest seabirds remain the least studied. Their wide-ranging movements, time spent far from land, and often hidden nesting sites make them difficult to monitor. One such species is the European Storm-petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus).

Ireland supports over 20% of the global breeding population of European Storm-petrels, making it a key location for their conservation. Despite this, there is still limited information on where these birds travel at sea, how they forage, and which habitats they rely on most.

This lack of knowledge makes it difficult to assess how emerging threats may impact the species.

Uncovering movement and behaviour at sea

This project aims to build a clearer picture of storm-petrel ecology by combining complementary data sources. Aerial survey data provide large-scale information on where birds are present, while GPS tracking reveals fine-scale movement patterns and behaviour.

Our main areas of focus include:

• Mapping at-sea distribution: Identifying key areas used by storm-petrels in Irish waters.
• Understanding foraging behaviour: Examining how birds move and feed in relation to environmental conditions.
• Informing conservation planning: Providing evidence to guide marine spatial planning and reduce potential conflicts with human activities.

By improving our understanding of this elusive seabird, the project will help ensure that conservation measures reflect how storm-petrels actually use the ocean, both now and in the future.

Fig 1. (Left) Adult European Storm-petrel (photo: Samuel Langlois). (Middle) European Storm-petrel chick in its nest. (Right) Dry-stone walls in which the storm-petrels nest at our study colony.