Food sources for Common Scoter (Melanitta nigra) in Carmarthen Bay dataset https://portal.medin.org.uk/portal/start.php?tpc=007_NRW_DS87189 In the UK the Common Scoter (Melanitta nigra) is recognised as a nationally threatened species due to its small and declining breeding population. Carmarthen Bay is an internationally important wintering ground for the Common Scoter duck (Melanitta nigra) and is widely regarded as the most important such site in the UK causing the site to be proposed as a Special Protection Area (pSPA) under the EC Birds Directive. Carmarthen Bay is considered to support peak numbers of 17000 - 24000 birds. The Common Scoter is strongly migratory and often travels considerable distances over land making brief stop-overs on inland waters. Its diet consists predominantly of molluscs, especially during the winter, although it occasionally takes other aquatic invertebrates such as crustaceans (e.g. barnacles and shrimps), worms, echinoderms, isopods, amphipods and insects (e.g. midges and caddis flies) as well as small fish and fish eggs. An extensive macrofauna sampling survey was undertaken to coincide with an aerial scoter survey. Conservation concerns for the scoter population focus on threats of hunting pressure, breeding habitat disturbance and loss, food chain contaminants, oil spills and the threat to non-breeding habitats represented by offshore developments. The aim of this project was to investigate the biological and physical factors affecting the winter distribution of common scoter in Carmarthen Bay and to identify what component of the benthos they feed upon. The identification of such components is crucial to the future management and monitoring of the Carmarthen Bay Special Protection Area and, to some extent, the Special Area of Conservation. 20041031