Common Scoter (Black Scoter)
Melanitta nigra
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Distribution Britain 51 (21.4%) Ireland 16 (6.7%)
Numbers breeding: Britain 100 RBBP Ireland 65 European status: 7,000 (2% in Britain and Ireland =5) British population trend: probably declining How likely are you to record it? 2 squares (0.0%) Ranked 183= |
These seaduck breed on freshwater lakes and were in Northern Scotland in very small numbers 100 years ago. Now Caithness and Sutherland probably have more than half the breeding birds. In Ireland a colony at Lower Lough Erne, established 1905, peaked at 150 pairs (1967) and was extinct by 1995, when the three other Irish colonies held up to 110 pairs. Eutrophication of the Irish lakes is a grave problem and feral mink predation a real threat.
Gillings, T. & Delany, S. 1996 Irish Birds: 5, 413-422.
Underhill, M.C. et al. 1998 Bird Study: 45, 146-156.
UKBAP Scottish Natural Heritage RSPB & WWT.
From
The
State of the Nations Birds
Copyright © 2000 by Chris Mead