Plea for paddleboarders and kayakers to steer clear of endangered Slavonian grebe birds at Loch Ruthven

A plea is being made to water sports lovers to help save one of Scotland’s most endangered birds.

Paddleboarders and kayakers are being asked to steer clear of a popular loch which is also a haven for Slavonian grebes.

Their numbers have declined sharply in recent years.

Loch Ruthven attracts fishers, swimmers, paddleboarders and kayakers. The protected Site of Special Scientific Interest is also a magnet for one of the colourful grebes.

In Scotland, the species only breeds within 30 miles of Inverness but numbers at Loch Ruthven have dipped from ten pairs in 2019 to just three pairs last year.

Half the UK’s breeding population of Slavonian grebe nests on Loch Ruthven and increased human activity has caused concern.

Steph Elliott of RSPB Scotland, said: “One thing that we do know is happening is that there’s an increase in recreational activity taking place on Slovenian Grebe lochs and that causes disturbance to the birds.

“It prevents them getting to their nests. It might keep birds from their nests so they can’t incubate their eggs properly and, also, they’re a bird that’s quite vulnerable to disturbance, so they don’t like the presence of people.

“What we’re asking folks to do is to just not go out onto the water where the birds are really easily disturbed.

“We would rather folks came here to Loch Ruthven to see the grebes than go to other sites that are vulnerable to disturbance because we’ve got a birdwatching hide here and we can help people see them safely without disturbing them.”

The catastrophic decline in grebe numbers has prompted the charity, working in collaboration with Highland Council, to launch a public consultation on restricting public use of the water.

Local councillor and Green Party group leader Chris Ballance said: “The decline of birdlife across Scotland is deeply worrying, particularly the rarer birds like this.

“It’s really important that we keep the biodiversity, that we keep as wide a range of species as possible in Scotland, and that means sometimes protecting our natural spaces so that people don’t disturb them at key points in the breeding seeason.”

The consultation runs until mid May.