Special Protection Areas form part of a network of sites across Europe (the Natura2000 Network) set up to protect birds under The European Birds Directive.

Scotland is particularly rich in Seabirds and has 48 SPAs established primarily or partially for seabirds. Over a third of all of the seabirds in the European Union are found in Scotland and, of these, three-quarters are in the SPAs.

Member States are obliged to ensure that the seabirds in these sites remain in favourable conservation status and the colonies are monitored regularly. The most recent full census Seabird 2000 was carried out between 1999 and 2002 and coordinated by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. This showed that Scotland has some 5.6 million seabirds. Results for the individual SPAs are given under each property.

Conservation work
The National Trust for Scotland takes its responsibilities for conserving Scotland’s largest seabird colonies very seriously. Ranger Services are employed at St Abbs, St Kilda and Culzean with the aim of guiding visitors and monitoring changing numbers of breeding seabirds. Funding for these is supplied by Scottish Natural Heritage. At other properties, such as Fair Isle and Canna, long-term monitoring programmes are carried out by the Fair Isle Bird Observatory and the Highland Ringing Group. Urgent problems are tackled through dedicated conservation projects, such as the Canna Seabird Recovery Project.