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Birds of the Outer Hebrides: waterfowl*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

P. G. Hopkins  and
P. Coxon
P. G. Hopkins
Affiliation:
Trath gu Leor, Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire
P. Coxon
Affiliation:
Drumglass Farm, Laurieston, Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire
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Synopsis

Waterfowl habitats are briefly described. These consist of nutrient-poor moorland with peaty lochs and bogs; nutrient-rich machair wetland with calcareous lochs and marshes; brackish water and marine habitats of estuary, shore and off-shore islands. The breeding waterfowl populations for moorlands, machair wetlands (including the Balranald Reserve) and the off-shore islands are described by species. Migrating and wintering assemblies of waterfowl are described by species: divers and grebes, sea-ducks, geese and swans, ducks on machair wetlands. The paper concludes with a review of the factors of land use most affecting waterfowl: traditional crofting practice, reseeding and fertilizing of moorland and grassland, drainage, wildfowling, sheep husbandry, dumping of rubbish and human disturbance relative to predators such as the hooded crow and the herring gull. Such factors constitute a serious threat to the wellbeing of stocks of waterfowl in the Outer Hebrides which is not overcome by present conservation measures.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 77: The Natural Environment of the Outer Hebrides , 1979 , pp. 431 - 444
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1979

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Footnotes

*

One of a series of four Symposium papers on the avifauna of the Hebrides.

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