The Project will be titled 'All at Sea: Documenting Threats to UK and Northern Ireland Seabird Colonies.'

It is a sad fact that, ‘more than a third of seabirds in the North Sea and about a quarter…in the Celtic Seas have suffered…widespread breeding failure.’ In addition, ‘50% of seabird species are known or suspected to be experiencing population declines.’ This highlights the collapse of UK seabird populations mirroring trends elsewhere in the world.

The reasons include:

• Prey species decline (e.g. sandeel overfishing)

• Climate change

• Plastic pollution

• Ocean acidification

• Invasive Non-Native Species

• Too few Marine Protected Areas with no-take zones

UK and Northern Ireland seabird colonies hold some of the best wildlife found in the British Isles but remain under threat. Over two breeding seasons we will visit as many of these seabird colonies as possible to document the wildlife, highlight the threats and gather the stories from dedicated conservation staff and volunteers using photography and videography.

The seabird colonies we will capture include:

• Skomer Island

• Skoholm Island

• Bempton Cliffs

• Farne Islands

• St Abbs Head

• Bass Rock

• Dunnets Head

• Shiant Isles

• Lunga Island

• St Kilda

• Shetland Islands

• Rathlin Island

The work we create will be shared on social media on dedicated 'All at Sea...' pages and groups, with conservation charities and organisations. Towards the end of the project the footage will be edited to develop a film covering the 2 years showing conservation staff at work and the stunning wildlife of our fascinating seabird colonies from Skomer to the Shetlands. Images will be developed into a book displaying stunning images of wildlife, conservation staff along with photo essays covering the issues and the quirky nature of the wonderful people that dedicate their time to conserving our natural heritage. Any profits from this stage of the project will be donated to wildlife charities engaged in conserving our seabird colonies.

Between us we have been published in numerous newspapers and magazines and have won several awards, including the following, which highlight that we work to high standards:

Photography:

Best of Show (Great North Art Show 2018)

Gold Award Winner (TIFA 2016)

Finalist (European Wildlife Photography Awards 2017)

BBC Countryfile Calender (2017 and 2019)

Highly Commended (NHM Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018)

Nominated (British Photography Awards, Street Category, 2018)

Videos

Winner (Government Communication Service Award)

Winner (Public Service Communications Excellence Awards )

Highly Commended (North Yorkshire Police Alternate Film Campaign)

Our work can be seen at the following sites:

https://gurushots.com/mckeedi/photos

https://www.garylawsonphotography.com/

https://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/profile/1001140/

The money raised through JustGiving will be used for travel to and from seabird colonies including ferries, processing of images and footage, specialist equipment hire, campsite fees, storage and back up including high speed cards, self-publishing of photo-story book, exhibition development and travel to presentations as well as publicity opportunities. Air travel will be avoided wherever possible, to cut down on carbon emissions and also to capture seabird sightings from ferries.

Project Goals :

1. Visits to seabird colonies in all 4 countries of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.

2. 30 + images printed for a minimum of 10 exhibitions along with a minimum of 10 photo and video presentations covering seabird images, conservation work, threats and the future.

3. Regular online awareness through National Geographic YourShot, Viewbug, Gurushots, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube.

4. National and international awareness raising of seabird declines with production of a photo-book along with short video clips and a longer final video at the project close. The book will be sold at exhibitions and presentations.

5. Media publicity approaches to wildlife and photography magazines to explore possible articles as well as local and national newspapers.