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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 IBA criteria.

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

Species	Red List	Season (year/s of estimate)	Size	IBA criteria
Common Murre Uria aalge	LC	breeding (2004)	10,476 individuals	C7

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.

State (condition of the key species' populations)
Species	Actual vs Reference (units)	% remaining	Result
Common Murre Uria aalge	10,476 / 36,418 (individuals)	29	very unfavourable
A4iii Species group - seabirds	8,887 / 26,047 (breeding pairs)	35	very unfavourable

Pressure (threats to the key species and/or their habitats)
Threat	Timing	Scope	Severity	Result
Climate change and severe weather	happen­ing now	most of popul­ation/area (50–90%)	moderate deteri­oration (10–30% in 3 gener­ations)	high

Response (conservation actions taken for the key species and/or their habitats)
Designation	Planning	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90%) covered by appropriate conservation designation	A manage­ment plan exists, but it is out of date or not compre­hensive	Not assessed	low

Year	Protected Area	Designation (management category)	% coverage of IBA
-	Marwick Head	RSPB Reserve (-)	56
1973	Marwick Head	Site of Special Scientific Interest (UK) (IV)	100
1976	Marwick Head	Nature Reserve (II)	11
2011	Marwick Head	Marine Protected Area (OSPAR) (UA)	11

Habitat	% of IBA	Habitat detail
Grassland	-
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	-

Land use	% of IBA
nature conservation and research	100

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Important Bird Area factsheet: Marwick Head (United Kingdom). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/marwick-head-iba-united-kingdom on 06/01/2025.