Marwick Head (United Kingdom) - BirdLife IBA factsheet

UK197

Marwick Head

Current view: Data table and detailed info

IBA Justification

The site was identified as important 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 List¹	Season	Year(s)	Size	IBA criteria
Common Murre Uria aalge	LC	breeding	2004	10,476 individuals	C7

1. The current IUCN Red List category. The category at the time of the IBA criteria assessment (2007) may differ.

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	very unfavourable	high	low
Whole site assessed?	State assessed by	Accuracy of information
yes	population	good

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

Pressure (threats to the trigger species and/or their habitats)
Threat	Timing	Scope	Severity	Result
Climate change and severe weather	happening now	majority/most of area/population (50-90%)	moderate to rapid deterioration	high

Response (conservation actions taken for the trigger species and/or their habitats)
Protected areas	Management plan	Other 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90%) covered by appropriate conservation designation	A management plan exists but it is out of date or not comprehensive	Not assessed	low

IBA Protection

Year	Protected Area	Designation	% overlap with IBA
-	Marwick Head	RSPB Reserve	56
1973	Marwick Head	Site of Special Scientific Interest (UK)	100
1976	Marwick Head	Nature Reserve	11
1996	Marwick Head	Special Protection Area (Birds Directive)	100
2011	Marwick Head	Marine Protected Area (OSPAR)	11

Habitats

Habitat¹	Habitat detail	% of IBA
Grassland		-
Marine Coastal/Supratidal		-

1. IUCN Habitat classification.

Land use

Land use	% of IBA
nature conservation and research	100

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Marwick Head (United Kingdom). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/marwick-head-iba-united-kingdom on 23/11/2024.