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Most seabirds have now started to nest at St Abbs National Nature Reserve. Fieldwork for the counts of nesting seabird populations is now complete for all species except Fulmar.
Guillemots - counts on monitoring plots are up 19% on 2004, though still below levels through 2000-2003
Razorbills - counts on plots also up 19% on 2004, but still the second lowest count since late eighties
Shags - only 131 occupied nests - barely a third of those recorded in 2004
Herring Gulls - 169 occupied nests, down 35% on 2004 and the lowest count recorded in over 40 years.
Kittiwake - 7239 occupied nests a 16% increase 2004 but still a long way below the counts in the 1990s
An important factor in determining long-term success of the seabird colony is the number of young reared per nest. This involves counting the number of young successfully fledged and it is therefore too early to predict the results of this productivity monitoring. Work on the Shags, Kittiwakes and Razorbills is still ongoing but the results will be posted on this website in due course.
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