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Year of most recent IBA criteria assessment: 2007

Populations of IBA trigger species

Species	Current IUCN Red List Category	Season	Year(s) of estimate	Population estimate	IBA Criteria Triggered
European Storm-petrel Hydrobates pelagicus	LC	breeding	2001	309 breeding pairs	B2, C6
Northern Gannet Morus bassanus	LC	breeding	1998	5,137 breeding pairs	A4ii, B1ii, B2, C3
European Shag Gulosus aristotelis	LC	breeding	1998	724 breeding pairs	B3
Atlantic Puffin Fratercula arctica	VU	breeding	1998	59,471 breeding pairs	B1ii, B2, C3
A4iii Species group - seabirds	n/a	breeding	1998-2001	72,717 breeding pairs	A4iii, C4

Note: This table presents the IBA criteria triggered and the species that triggered then at the time of assessment, the current IUCN Red List category may vary from that which was in place at that time.

For more information about the IBA assessment process and criteria please click here

Threats to the site (pressure)
Threat Level 1	Threat Level 2	Timing	Scope	Severity	Result
Climate change and severe weather	habitat shifting and alteration	happening now	whole area/population (>90%)	slow but significant deterioration	high

Condition of key/trigger populations (state)
Scientific	Common	TargetPop	ActualPop	Units	Remaining	Result
Hydrobates pelagicus	European Storm-petrel	1000	309	breeding pairs	31	very unfavourable
Morus bassanus	Northern Gannet	4890	5137	breeding pairs	100	favourable
Gulosus aristotelis	European Shag	700	724	breeding pairs	100	favourable
Fratercula arctica	Atlantic Puffin	43400	59471	breeding pairs	100	favourable
Species group - seabirds	A4iii	63788	72717	breeding pairs	100	favourable

Conservation actions taken at site (response)
Conservation Designation	Management Planning	Conservation Action	Result
Whole area of site (>90%) covered by appropriate conservation designation	A management plan exists but it is out of date or not comprehensive	Very little or no conservation action taking place	low

For more information about IBA monitoring please click here

Protected Area	Designation	Area (ha)	Relationship with IBA	Overlap with IBA (ha)
Sule Stack	Site of Special Scientific Interest (UK)	2	protected area contained by site	3
Sule Skerry and Sule Stack	Marine Protected Area (OSPAR)	0	protected area overlaps with site	0
Sule Skerry and Sule Stack	Special Protection Area (Birds Directive)	3,909	protected area contains site	19
Sule Skerry	Site of Special Scientific Interest (UK)	16	protected area overlaps with site	16

IUCN Habitat	Habitat detail	Extent (% of site)
Coastline	Rock stacks and islets	-

For further information about the habitat classification please click here.

Land-use	Extent (% of site)
other	-
not utilised	-

For further information about the land use classification please click here.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2022) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Sule Skerry and Sule Stack. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 04/10/2022.