15-5-2015 EBRO DELTA, TARRAGONA - EURASIAN GREAT CORMORANT (Phalacrocorax carbo)

Cormorants were once entirely coastal in habits but we have seen an increasing trend for inland breeding, a behaviour first documented here in the 1950s.

Our population is made up of birds from two different races, one of which – the continental race – is responsible for the colonisation of inland waterbodies. Cormorants make use of regular roosting sites, with some individuals remarkably faithful to these over time.

The expansion inland has brought the Cormorant into conflict with commercial fisheries and anglers, and the presence of these birds has not been welcomed by all.