Status of Breeding Common Scoter Melanitta nigra nigra in Britain and Ireland in 1996: The Effect of the Sea Empress Oil Spill

• Availability: Not released
• Published by: Marine Environmental Data & Information Network
• Last updated: 31 August 1996
• Topic: Not added
• Licence: Other Licence ; View licence information

Summary

Following concerns regarding potential effects of the Sea Empress oil spill in Carmarthen Bay, February 1996, on the British and Irish populations of breeding Common Scoters Melanitta nigra nigra, their status and distribution were determined from a survey in May - June 1996. The survey was undertaken in five areas (Shetland, the Flow country, West and South Scotland, Islay and Ireland), using methods devised during the first complete British and Irish census of this species in 1995. Survey effort was concentrated on sites that held Common Scoters in 1995, and on sites with historical records. The survey visited 223 sites and located 376 birds. This was 79 fewer birds than the previous year, a 17% decline in numbers (16% in Ireland and 19% in Britain), a 19% decrease in occupied 10-km squares and a 31% decrease in occupied sites, compared to visits made at a similar time in 1995. It is possible that a decline of this magnitude may be within the range of natural population fluctuations or it could be due to the late arrival of birds after the late spring in 1996. However, over the last eight years, the number of Common Scoters in the Flow country has declined by 42% from an estimated 48 pairs in 1988 to only 28 in 1996. Given the Common Scoter's threatened status in the UK, that the dynamics of the population are unknown, and the potential decline, annual monitoring of both numbers and productivity is a high priority. Data used to assess the potential effects of the Sea Empress oil spill in Carmarthen Bay, February 1996, on the British and Irish populations of breeding Common Scoters Melanitta nigra nigra.

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• Added to data.gov.uk: 2017-12-04
• Access contraints: There are no access restrictions to this data. NRW may release, publish or disseminate it freely.
• Harvest GUID: 4f4c4942-4343-5764-6473-313130313133
• Extent: Latitude: 61.06306476° to 51.05493036°
• Extent: Longitude: -7.52191816° to -2.40580882°
• Spatial reference system: urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::BNG
• Dataset reference date: 1996-08-31 (publication)
• Dataset reference date: 1996-08-31 (revision)
• Frequency of update: notPlanned
• Responsible party: Natural Resources Wales (NRW) (custodian); Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) (originator); Wildfowl And Wetlands Trust (WWT) (originator); Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) (originator)
• ISO 19139 resource type: dataset
• Metadata language: eng
• Source Metadata: XML
• Source Metadata: HTML

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© CNC/NRW Data may be re-used under the terms of the Open Government Licence providing it is done so, acknowledging both the source and NRW's copyright. It is the recipient's responsibility to ensure the data is fit for the intended purpose.