SWINDON, England, Sept.

A collaborative research team led by Queen's University biologists has found that potent metals like mercury and lead, ingested by Arctic seabirds feeding in the ocean, end up in the sediment of polar ponds.

Arctic terns migrating south for winter often take a rest for a few days off the coast of Newfoundland, before continuing their long journey south.

By Emily Pykett SCOTLAND'S seabirds could be in the grip of another dire year, according to the latest counts of nesting birds across the UK.

ONE of the country's rarest seabirds is breeding in record numbers in the North-East. The little tern, in decline since the 1960s, has not only survived the wet summer but produced record numbers of chicks in Durham and Cleveland.