The descriptive text, below the map, is from the Cornish Red Data Book (2009). The map on this web page depicts the organisms distribution and shows the records made pre-2000 and those made since.
Range & Status
Holarctic; in Britain and Ireland there are an estimated 100-150 in winter.
Regional Distribution
Cornwall: scarce winter visitor and passage migrant, some 20 birds annually in recent years. Less than three at most sites, but eight at Veryan Bay winter 1990/91 (Lane, 1988). It has become much scarcer in the county since 2000. A scarce autumn and winter visitor in the Isles of Scilly.
Habitat & Ecology
Sheltered coastal bays and estuary mouths, chiefly on south Cornish coast.
Threats
Inshore fishing (monofilament nets) and oil pollution.
Conservation
Monitoring of winter numbers. Listed (long list) as a globally threatened/declining species (BSGR, 1995).
I.J. Bennallick, S. Board, C.N. French, P.A. Gainey, C. Neil, R. Parslow, A. Spalding and P.E. Tompsett. eds. 2009. Red Data Book for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. 2nd Edition.Croceago Press.
The Cornish Red Data Book Project was led by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Federation for Biological Recorders (CISFBR). The full text and species accounts (minus the maps) are available on the CISFBR website.