{"id":629567,"date":"2026-06-09T17:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T17:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/629567\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T17:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T17:16:08","slug":"rspb-buys-bass-rock-after-300-years-in-private-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/629567\/","title":{"rendered":"RSPB buys Bass Rock after 300 years in private hands"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The total cost of the sale has not been disclosed but BBC Scotland News understands it was  below market value. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">RSPB Scotland said acquiring the islands came at a crucial time, with more than 70% of seabirds facing decline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It said threats come from climate change, food scarcity, invasive species and human activity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Bass Rock has been a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for almost 75 years and is home to about 100,000 gannets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Anne McCall, director of RSPB Scotland, said the organisation was &#8220;thrilled&#8221; to be taking ownership of the islands and would be working with the Scottish Seabird Centre to protect and enhance the bird colonies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;With the pressures facing Scotland&#8217;s seabirds intensifying, we have a responsibility to act,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;This partnership gives us the opportunity to drive forward seabird recovery at this crucial time.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The total cost of the sale has not been disclosed but BBC Scotland News understands it was below&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-629567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}