SPA description
(information as published 2001)
St Kilda
St Kilda is a group of remote Scottish islands lying in the
North Atlantic about 70 km west of North Uist in the Outer
Hebrides. The St Kilda group consists of the largest island of
Hirta, the nearby Dun and Soay, and Boreray with its flanking
pinnacles of Stac Lee and Stac an Armin together with some smaller
rocky islets. The islands are steep, with precipitous cliffs
reaching 430 m on Hirta and 380 m on Soay and Boreray. The
vegetation is strongly influenced by sea spray and the presence of
seabirds and livestock. Inland on Hirta, species-poor acidic
grassland and sub-maritime heaths occupy extensive areas. The
islands provide a strategic nesting locality for seabirds that feed
in the rich waters to the west of Scotland. The total population of
seabirds exceeds 600,000 pairs, making this one of the largest
concentrations in the North Atlantic and the largest in the UK.
Notable among the many breeding species are auks, petrels and
shearwaters, gulls and large proportions of the national and
international populations of Gannet Morus bassanus and
Puffin Fratercula arctica. These species feed outside the
SPA, not only in the waters close to the islands, but also further
away in the North Atlantic. It is one of only seven known nesting
localities in the EU for Leach's Petrel Oceanodroma
leucorhoa.
Qualifying species
For individual species accounts visit the Species
Accounts section
This site qualifies under Article 4.1 of the
Directive (79/409/EEC) by supporting populations of European
importance of the following species listed on Annex I of the
Directive:
During the breeding season;
Leach's Storm-petrel Oceanodroma leucorhoa, 5,000
pairs representing at least 9.1% of the breeding population in
Great Britain (Count as at 1987)
Storm Petrel Hydrobates pelagicus, 850 pairs
representing at least 1.0% of the breeding population in Great
Britain
This site also qualifies under Article 4.2 of
the Directive (79/409/EEC) by supporting populations of European
importance of the following migratory species:
During the breeding season;
Gannet Morus bassanus, 60,400 pairs representing at
least 23.0% of the breeding North Atlantic population (Count, as at
1994)
Great Skua Catharacta skua, 270 pairs representing at
least 2.0% of the breeding World population (1997)
Puffin Fratercula arctica, 155,000 pairs representing
at least 17.2% of the breeding population (Count, as at 1989)
Assemblage qualification: A seabird assemblage of
international importance
The area qualifies under Article 4.2 of the
Directive (79/409/EEC) by regularly supporting at least 20,000
seabirds
During the breeding season, the area regularly supports
600,000 individual seabirds including: Razorbill Alca
torda, Guillemot Uria aalge, Kittiwake Rissa
tridactyla, Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus, Fulmar
Fulmarus glacialis, Puffin Fratercula arctica,
Great Skua Catharacta skua, Gannet Morus
bassanus, Leach's Storm-petrel Oceanodroma leucorhoa,
Storm Petrel Hydrobates pelagicus.
Note:
Many designated sites are on private land: the listing of
a site in these pages does not imply any right of public
access.
Note that sites selected for waterbird species on the basis of
their occurrence in the breeding, passage or winter periods also
provide legal protection for these species when they occur at other
times of the year.