Hermaness, Saxa Vord and Valla Field (United Kingdom) IBA | Details

UK159

Hermaness, Saxa Vord and Valla Field

Current view: Data table and detailed info

IBA Justification

The site was identified as internationally important for bird conservation in 2007 because it was regularly supporting significant populations of the species listed below, meeting ('triggering') IBA criteria.

Populations meeting IBA criteria ('trigger species') at the site:

Species	Red List	Season (year/s of estimate)	Size	IBA criteria
Northern Gannet Morus bassanus	LC	breeding (1999)	16,386 pairs	A4ii, B1ii, B2, C3
Great Skua Catharacta skua	LC	breeding (2001)	1,074 pairs	A4ii, B1ii, B2, C3
Atlantic Puffin Fratercula arctica	VU	breeding (2002)	27,949 pairs	B1ii, B2, C3
A4iii Species group - seabirds	n/a	breeding (1999–2002)	66,832 pairs	A4iii, C4

IBA Conservation

Ideally the conservation status of the IBA will have been checked regularly since the site was first identified in 2007. The most recent assessment (2007) is shown below.

IBA conservation assessment
Year of assessment	State	Pressure	Response
2007	poor	very high	low
Whole site assessed?	State assessed by	Accuracy of information
yes	population	good

State (condition of the trigger species' populations)
Species	Actual vs Reference (units)	% remaining	Result
Northern Gannet Morus bassanus	16,386 / 12,000 (pairs)	100	good
Great Skua Catharacta skua	1,074 / 1,220 (pairs)	89	moderate
Atlantic Puffin Fratercula arctica	27,949 / 19,100 (pairs)	100	good
Black Guillemot Cepphus grylle	243 / 380 (birds)	64	poor
A4iii Species group - seabirds	66,832 / 70,610 (pairs)	95	good

Pressure (threats to the trigger species and/or their habitats)
Threat	Timing	Scope	Severity	Result
Climate change and severe weather	happening now	whole of population/area (>90%)	rapid decline (>30% over 3 generations)	very high

Response (conservation actions taken for the trigger species and/or their habitats)
Designation	Planning	Action	Result
Most of area (50–90%) covered (including the most critical parts for important bird species)	Unknown	Unknown	low

IBA Protection

Year	Protected Area	Designation (management category)	% coverage of IBA
1955	Hermaness	National Nature Reserve (IV)	31
1955	Hermaness	Site of Special Scientific Interest (UK) (IV)	32
1972	Norwick	Site of Special Scientific Interest (UK) (III)	<1
1984	Norwick Meadows	Site of Special Scientific Interest (UK) (IV)	<1
1988	Saxa Vord	Site of Special Scientific Interest (UK) (IV)	1
2000	Valla Field	Site of Special Scientific Interest (UK) (IV)	20
2011	Hermaness, Saxa Vord and Valla Field	Marine Protected Area (OSPAR) (UA)	4

Habitats

Habitat	% of IBA	Habitat detail
Grassland	-	Humid grasslands
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	-
Shrubland	-	Heathland
Wetlands (inland)	-	Blanket bogs

Land use

Land use	% of IBA
agriculture	100

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Hermaness, Saxa Vord and Valla Field (United Kingdom). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/hermaness-saxa-vord-and-valla-field-iba-united-kingdom on 24/12/2024.