Black-throated diver national surveys in Scotland

Black-throated divers are birds of conservation concern due to the small UK population size, and large declines in the European population in the 20th century. This dataset contains records of black-throated divers from the national surveys conducted in 1985, 1994 and 2006. The 2006 survey details unique site visits, and individual birds may be reported in more than one record, recorded on different visits to the same site. The survey indicated a significant increase of 16% between 1994 and 2006. The 1985 and 1994 surveys in this dataset are breeding summaries of summering territories. The 1985 survey is incomplete, and is missing seven summering territories reported by Campbell and Talbot (British Birds, 1987). 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 clearly 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).