breeding population. In 1998, the UK Government agreed to a biodiversity action plan (BAP) for the common scoter to increase the breeding population to 100 pairs by 2008. The Northern Irish population, which had reached a peak of 150–200 pairs in the 1970s, crashed disastrously in the 1990s and by 2010 there were no confirmed reports of breeding. However, 100 pairs were recorded in the south of Ireland in a 1995 survey. UK breeding pairs have declined to 35 as of 2015 and attempts are being made to research why. At the third steering group meeting of the UK Common Scoter Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP), the population in the Shell Flat area was put at 16,500 wintering scoter and 5,000 moulting birds, of which 4,000 used the footprint area of the proposed wind farm. Scoters and Meatless Fridays in France In parts of France, in the nineteenth century and earlier, the common scoter was accepted by the Roman Catholic Church as a substitute for fish during the Friday Fast. References External links Common scoter Photos, text and map at Oiseaux.net Melanitta Birds of Europe Birds of the Middle East Birds described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus