Digital aerial surveys (Falmouth Bay to St Austell Bay) winter 2020/2021

The Falmouth Bay to St Austell Bay SPA was classified in 2017 and is designated for wintering black-throated diver Gavia arctica, great northern diver Gavia immer and Slavonian grebe Podiceps auritus, which are all listed in Annex I of the Birds Directive . The wintering population of black-throated divers in Great Britain is estimated to be 560 individuals (Musgrove et al. 2011). In winter, the UK as a whole contains a small fraction of the estimated European breeding population (153,000 - 276,000 individuals; Delaney & Scott 2006), with most of the population wintering in the eastern North Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea and Adriatic Sea (BirdLife International 2004).