Paddleboarders and wild swimmers are destroying rare bird nesting habitats, the RSPB has warned, as it calls for beaches to be roped off during breeding season.

A rising number of people doing water sports coupled with the effects of climate change, including coastal erosion, has meant that the few seabird nesting habitats left are being destroyed.

Charity bosses have urged paddlers, kayakers and swimmers not to explore remote islands on their travels, as birds can be spooked and nests destroyed.

As much as 50 per cent of shingle habitat has been lost since 1945 and the RSPB predicts we will lose another 2,000 hectares by 2050. This will include losing areas currently supporting tens of thousands of breeding seabirds, particularly in England where the losses are most acute.

Leigh Lock, the bird charity’s species recovery development manager, told The Telegraph: “We’ve got less space on which these birds can nest. When you look in the next 20 or 30 years that will keep decreasing.

“We’ve also seen increased levels of disturbance of more people on the coast doing all sorts of things they didn’t do 10 years ago.