PLASTIC waste is blighting a key seabird sanctuary, according to evidence gathered by Greenpeace.

Crisp packets and carrier bags are amongst items of rubbish strewn across the Bass Rock.

Images taken by the environmental group also show plastic waste around eggs in nest and in the beaks of birds.

The Firth of Forth landmark is home to the world’s largest colony of Northern gannets, as well as shags, guillemots and razorbills, with seals also using the volcanic rock, which was once used as a prison.

The findings were recorded by scientists on board the Greenpeace ship Beluga II, which is on a fact-finding journey around Scotland.

The project, which runs until the end of June, aims to document the impact of plastic pollution on native species such as the gannet, puffin and basking shark. Surveying remote beaches for rubbish and investigating seabird nests for plastics during hatching season, the initiative will include sites in Mull, Rum, Eigg, Skye and the Shiant Isles.

The voyage follows studies which suggest that 90 per cent of seabirds have ingested such materials and samples of water taken from around Bass Rock and will undergo tests for microplastics.

After examining nests on the Bass Rock with staff from the Scottish Seabird Centre, which has landing rights on the outcrop, Greenpeace UK oceans expert Willie Mackenzie said: “Being surrounded by tens of thousands of gannets on the Bass Rock is a stunning spectacle, but it’s seabirds like these which are acutely threatened by ocean plastic pollution.

"We found plastic bags, packaging, bits of old fishing gear and even crisp packets strewn across the island and surrounding eggs in nests."

The organisation is campaigning for a deposit return scheme for soft drinks bottles. Mackenzie said: “A truckload of plastic enters the ocean every minute and 16 million plastic bottles end up in our environment every day in the UK.

"We need urgent action from major soft drinks companies, like Coca-Cola which produces over 100 billion throwaway plastic bottles every year, to reduce their plastic footprint. We need governments to deliver initiatives like bottle deposit return schemes which can reduce the amount of plastic ending up on our beaches and in the sea.”