Red-throated diver national surveys in Scotland - raw data

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Description

Red-throated divers are birds of conservation concern due to large declines in the 19th century. While the population increased in the 20th century, there was not considerable change to the breeding range. This dataset contains the results of systematic national surveys in 1994 and 2006. The dataset contains the raw data, i.e. un-interpreted red-throated diver sightings. As such, it does not report any indirect evidence that has been used to indicate presence in the 5km summary dataset, which is also available on the NBN. In addition to the data collected for the national surveys, this dataset also contains data collected on additional visits in the survey years. These data are either from sites that were not included in the surveys, or from sites visited outside the survey period. These data are flagged in the dataset. The surveys were carried out by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) under the Statutory Conservation Agencies and RSPB Breeding Birds Scheme (SCARABBS).

Geographic Description

National surveys of the UK, with sightings in Scotland only. Positive records are mostly at 100m resolution, with some 1km records. Absence records are reported at 5km resolution.

Data quality

These data have been gathered by trained field-workers and the data are of a high quality.

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These data have been mapped and checked for sensitivities and typographical/geographical errors.

Methods

The surveys give a complete census of Shetland, Orkney, and a stratified sample of 5km grid squares in the rest of the known breeding range. In 2006, two Special Protection Areas (SPAs) in the Hebrides with Red-Throated Diver as a qualifying feature (Rum and Mointeach Scadabhaigh) were also fully surveyed. In most cases, 5km squares were surveyed twice between 15 May and 15 August. Randomly selected grid squares with no suitable habitat were only surveyed once. Surveyors recorded the number of breeding and apparent non-breeding pairs on each loch, in addition to the number and size of any young. Although it was not a requirement to search for nesting scrapes, a number were found and recorded.

Citation

These data were collected under Statutory Conservation Agencies and RSPB Breeding Birds Scheme (SCARABBS). Please acknowledge Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the RSPB in any use of the data.

Rights

CC-BY

Digitised records