Marwick Head SPA

Status: Designated

Description

Site overview

This site is on the west coast of the island of Mainland in the Orkney archipelago of northern Scotland.  This is an important nesting area for large numbers of Guillemots and Kittiwakes. These species feed outside the site in surrounding areas.

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MPA Type

Special Protection Area

Special Protection Areas (SPAs) are strictly protected sites designated uner European legislation. They are established to protect rare and vulnerable birds and for regularly occurring migratory species.

Designation date

1 December 1994

Surface Area

4.76 km2 (1.84 mi.2)

Perimeter

13.90 km (8.64 mi.)

  • Black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla)

    A small cliff nesting seabird named for it its nasal “ki-ti-waak”” callnotes. The population is declining in some areas

    Source: possibly due to a shortage of food fish like
  • Seabird assemblage (Seabird assemblage)

    Important areas where a number of seabird species occur in significant numbers.

    Source: JNCC
  • Common guillemot (Uria aalge)

    One of the most common birds breeding on sheer, crowded cliffs known as ‘seabird cities’. This seabird only comes to land to breed and spends the rest of its life at sea.

    Source: RSPB

  • Marine areas, Sea inlets

Did you know?…

To the shelf limits, Scotland has 61% of UK waters, of which 23% are now in existing or new ‘marine protected areas’

Over half a million people have voiced their support for ‘marine protected area’ designation in the UK through our campaigns

Over 500,000 records on undersea habitats and species have been collected by volunteer Seasearch divers providing significant evidence for inshore ‘marine protected areas’