This dataset contains details for each and every bird assemblage on every Special Protection Area (SPA). Special Protection Areas (SPAs) are strictly protected sites classified in accordance with Article 4 of the EC Birds Directive, which came into force in April 1979. They are classified for rare and vulnerable birds (as listed on Annex I of the Directive), and for regularly occurring migratory species. The EU Commission requires information on each site to be compiled in the form of a Standard Data Form.
This dataset is updated every time a new or amended batch of information is submitted to the EU Commission. This dataset contains information drawn from section 3.3 of the Standard Data Form (other important species) and also repeated in free text form in the quality and importance section (section 4.2). This dataset is only applicable to December 2015 onwards - prior to that date the bird assemblage data was integrated with the other bird data (see Special Protection Areas bird data submitted to the EU). From December 2015 onwards this included the following fields
SITE_CODE
DESIGNATION_TYPE_CODE (always SPA)
SITE_NAME
COUNTRY_CODE
OTHER_SPECIES_GROUP (B = birds)
OTHER_SPECIES_CODE (see other_species_name for translation of code).
OTHER_SPECIES_NAME (Waterfowl assemblage or breeding seabird assemblage)
OTHER_SPECIES_SENSITIVE (0= none sensitive, 1 = sensitive. Note none of these data are sensitive)
OTHER_SPECIES_NP (1= feature no longer present)
OTHER_SPECIES_SIZE_MIN
OTHER_SPECIES_SIZE_MAX (note that min and max are the same for all assemblages)
OTHER_SPECIES_UNIT (i= individuals)
OTHER_SPECIES_CATEGORY – blank in this case because quantitative population size is always given instead of these broad categories.
OTHER_SPECIES_MOTIVATION (C: International Conventions - in this case Ramsar for the non breeding waterfowl; D: other reasons)
