South Walls and Switha (United Kingdom)

UK248

South Walls and Switha

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
Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis	LC	winter	2004-2006	2,073 individuals	B1i, B2, C2

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	favourable	low	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
Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis	1,100	2,073	individuals	100	favourable

Pressure (threats to the trigger species and/or their habitats)
Threat	Timing	Scope	Severity	Result
No known threats	happening now	small area/few individuals (<10%)	no or imperceptible deterioration	low

Response (conservation actions taken for the trigger species and/or their habitats)
Protected areas	Management plan	Other action	Result
Some of site covered (10-49%)	Unknown	Substantive conservation measures are being implemented but these are not comprehensive and are limited by resources and capacity	low

IBA Protection

Year	Protected Area	Designation	% overlap with IBA
1988	Hill of White Hamars	Nature Reserve	2
1994	Switha	Special Protection Area (Birds Directive)	22
1999	Switha	Site of Special Scientific Interest (UK)	22

Habitats

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

1. IUCN Habitat classification.

Land use

Land use	% of IBA
agriculture	100

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: South Walls and Switha (United Kingdom). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/south-walls-and-switha-iba-united-kingdom on 23/11/2024.