Trapped with a net wrapped tightly around its neck, a gannet calls out in distress.

The bird lives on tiny Grassholm Island off the Pembrokeshire coast, home to the third largest gannet colony in the UK.

But the once idyllic island has become "a living hell" for the birds because of our major plastic problem.

The tiny speck of land now has an estimated 20 tonnes of plastic on it, causing a "serious threat" to seabirds on the island.

Photographer Sam Hobson captured the shocking image and said he found the gannets were using plastic waste and netting to build nests.

"This panicked adult gannet struggled as it dangled from a cliff side, with ropes twisted around its neck like a hangman's noose," Mr Hobson said.

Grassholm Island off the coast of Pembrokeshire is the third largest gannet colony in the UK

"The gannets line their nests with these man-made plastic fibres and their nests become death-traps, entangling adult birds and juveniles as they develop inside the nest."

Thankfully for the gannet, brave volunteers were on hand to release the bird from being strangled to death by the plastic netting.

Every year the RSPB embarks on a rescue mission to free birds entangled in plastic on the island.

On neighbouring Ramsey Island, RSPB staff have managed to free more than 600 birds from "litter entanglement" since 2005 but others had not been so lucky.

Many die "tethered to their own nests".

Mr Hobson's photo was used in a series by the WWF to illustrate some of the biggest problems in nature and to highlight a UN report on the natural world.

The Global Assessment report, compiled by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), found one million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction due to humans.

The RSPB tries to rescue the gannets when they are entangled in netting

It also stated Wales was "one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world with hundreds of species at risk of disappearing".

WWF's gallery, which includes powerful images of deforestation and melting ice caps, calls on world leaders to "act now and save our planet" in response to the IPBES report.

The problem is made worse because if all the plastic is removed it would mean destroying the nests.

An RSPB Cymru spokesman said: "We have looked at removing all the plastic from nests on the island, but this would be an impossible task and would destroy the structure of this long-established colony.

"Freeing individual birds is the most viable option for our staff in the short term."

Last month Malaysia said it was about to start sending plastic waste back to the UK, because it is not a "dumping ground for rich nations’ waste".

Malaysia said it was becoming a target, along with other developing countries, after China banned the import of plastic waste last year.

The Environment minister Yeo Bee Yin said Malaysia plans to send back 3,300 tonnes of non-recyclable plastic waste to the US, UK, Canada and Australia.