SMP update

By Sarah Harris, BTO

With the support of both volunteer and professional fieldworkers across the UK, the SMP aims to track population changes for 25 seabird species annually. For some species, this is easier than for others. However, without the backing of those out at the colonies recording each breeding season, this aim would be totally impossible!

Coverage

Below, we present four graphs illustrating SMP coverage. Whole Colony Counts have remained fairly stable since the mid 2000s, as can be seen in the graph excluding years with additional coverage due to the periodic seabird census years. Between 2010 and 2014 (pre-Seabirds Count census), an average of 630 sites were monitored for Whole Colony Counts annually. For Plot Colony Counts, i.e. plots counted