CORMORANTS on the Farne Islands off Northumberland slumped to a 55-year low, according to a study of bird populations.

The report from the Natural History Society of Northumbria shows that only 139 pairs nested in 2010.

Farne Islands head warden David Steel says: “ The decline of the breeding population continued unabated as numbers dropped to their lowest levels since 1955.”

The colony has been moving from North Wamses to Big Harcar on the outer group of the Farne Islands.

“But this did nothing to stop the continued downward spiral,” said David.

Earlier this year police launched an investigation, helped by Cumbria Wildlife Trust, following the destruction of a large number of cormorant eggs at a nesting colony at Rockliffe Marsh nature reserve near Carlisle.

The trust said yesterday that the colony’s 20 nests had been destroyed – a repeat of what had happened the year before.

Joe Murphy, senior reserves officer at the trust, said: “This is wanton and malicious destruction of a beautiful species.

“The cormorant has had a place in human mythology for many years including being a good luck charm for fishermen.”

Trust marketing manager Charlotte Rowley said: “An assumption is that this has been done because cormorants eat fish.”

On the Farne Islands the number of sandwich terns fell to just over 1,000 pairs – their lowest breeding figure since 1958.

But just as there are losers, so there are winners.

Kittiwakes, which had suffered a decade of decline, posted a population increase, coupled with the earliest egg laying since 1974.

Guillemots also produced eggs on the earliest laying dates since 1997.

Razorbills, with 319 pairs, have been “a real success story of the islands,” according to David.

Their first eggs, discovered on April 20, is again the earliest laying yet recorded. Fulmars enjoyed a record year with the highest number of pairs – 271– nesting since they began colonising the islands in 1935.

Herring gulls did well with 768 nesting pairs and autumn roosts of around 10,000 individuals.

Among the 656 pairs of breeding Eider ducks was an individual named Winnie by the wardens, who returned to nest in the islands’ Pele Tower courtyard for the 10th successive season.

Two firsts for the islands were a black kite and a melodious warbler from southern Europe.

The warbler was also a first for Northumberland, with only one other sighting in the North East, which was at Whitburn in South Tyneside in 2003.

The sighting of a black kite was the first since one was seen in 1994 at Tynemouth.

Another rare visitor was a stone curlew – the first since an individual was shot in 1890 and another was found dead on the islands in 1950.

A total of 183 species was recorded during 2010.

The cormorant has had a place in human mythology for many years including being a good luck charm