Little Skellig gannets using plastic to build nests, says Birdwatch Ireland

From gannets using it instead of seaweed to build nests on the Skelligs right down to it spoiling the most remote Antarctic habitats, plastic has become the environmental scourge of the age.

Birdwatch Ireland is now saying that the estimated 70,000 gannets on Little Skellig are increasingly using plastic instead of seaweed to construct their nests.

As seaweed is biodegradable, the plastic remains behind on the island instead of rotting. Fears have been expressed that the birds could mistake some of the material for food and start ingesting the plastics.