Scottish Seabird Centre

The Scottish Seabird Centre’s annual Marine Fest returns for a 6th year on 21 May. The five-day festival (21 – 25 May) is packed with walks, talks and workshops that help locals and visitors connect with the amazing marine wildlife that Scotland’s seas support.

The programme combines family favourites, like Rockpool Rambles, Scavenger Hunts and Puffin Express boat trips, with expert talks, a guided seabird ID session and an introduction to some of the critically important citizen science projects that are helping us better understand the health of our oceans.

Emily Burton, Conservation Manager for the Scottish Seabird Centre, said:

“Marine Fest is all about bringing people together to celebrate the incredible marine life right on our doorstep. Whether you're spotting seabirds, exploring rockpools, or simply enjoying the sea air, it's a chance to connect with nature and be inspired to protect it.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re new to nature or already hooked, everyone is welcome to join us to celebrate our local wildlife and find out how to help it.”

The full festival programme is available on the Charity’s website www.seabird.org/events

Images free to use for this story only:

High-res images available to download HERE.
Header Image (c) Jamie McDermaid

ENDS

For further press information:

Jamie McDermaid, Communications and Content Officer, jamiem@seabird.org, tel: +44(0)1620 890202.
Jess Thompson, Marketing and Communications Manager, jesst@seabird.org, tel: +44(0)1620 890202.

Notes for editors

The full marine fest programme can be found on our website here.
The Scottish Seabird Centre is an award-winning marine conservation and education charity whose purpose is to inspire and educate people about the Scottish marine environment and motivate people to care for it by supporting conservation projects.
In May 2025 the Charity celebrated the 25th anniversary of the opening of its Visitor Centre doors to the public and over the years has won multiple awards for tourism and sustainability. It has led a range of high-profile conservation and education projects including the outstanding SOS Puffin initiative in the Firth of Forth.
Follow the Scottish Seabird Centre on Facebook/ScottishSeabirdCentre and Instagram @seabirdcentre
For more information on the Scottish Seabird Centre visit www.seabird.org

Key Facts about Scotland’s marine environment

Scotland has over 18,000km of coastline, in excess of 900 islands, 61% of the UK total sea area.
The area of Scotland’s seas is about 6 times the land mass of Scotland.
Scotland’s seas support an amazing diversity of wildlife with over 6,500 species recorded.
A third of Europe’s breeding seabirds are found in Scotland.
Seabirds are one of the world’s most threatened groups of vertebrates and one in three species are globally threatened with extinction, including populations of Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) and Black-legged Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) which are enjoyed by visitors to the Firth of Forth.
Important marine species include basking sharks, dolphins, porpoises and seals. About 35% of Europe’s harbour (or common) seal population also occur in UK waters with 83% of these found around Scotland’s coast.
Underneath the water, Scotland supports important marine habitats such as cold-water coral, kelp forests and flame shell beds (an important blue carbon resource).
Our oceans are important natural resource for combatting the effect of climate change. 83% of global carbon cycle is circulated through the world’s oceans and our coastal habitats account for around 50% of the total carbon sequestered in ocean sediments.
Healthy seas, however, have huge potential to provide natural solutions to the climate emergency by locking up carbon and helping the planet to cool.
In the last 50 years we have lost 2% of the oxygen in our oceans as a direct result of climate change, this is already having a devastating impact on our marine eco-systems and if left unchecked will be catastrophic for food security the world over.