With over a century of records, we present a detailed analysis of the spatial and temporal occurrence of marine turtle sightings and strandings in the UK and Ireland between 1910 and 2018. Records of hard-shell turtles, including loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta, N = 240) and Kemp's ridley turtles (Lepidochelys kempii, N = 61), have significantly increased over time. However, in the most recent years there has been a notable decrease in records. The majority of records of hard-shell turtles were juveniles and occurred in the boreal winter months when the waters are coolest in the North-east Atlantic. They generally occurred on the western aspects of the UK and Ireland highlighting a pattern of decreasing records with increasing latitude, supporting previous suggestions that juvenile turtles arrive in these waters via the North Atlantic current systems. Similarly, the majority of the strandings and sightings of leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea, N = 1683) occurred on the western aspects of the UK and the entirety of Ireland's coastline. In contrast to hard-shell turtles, leatherback turtles were most commonly recorded in the boreal summer months with the majority of strandings being adult sized, of which there has been a recent decrease in annual records. The cause of the recent annual decreases in turtle strandings and sightings across all three species is unclear; however, changes to overall population abundance, prey availability, anthropogenic threats and variable reporting effort could all contribute. Our results provide a valuable reference point to assess species range modification due to climate change, identify possible evidence of anthropogenic threats and to assess the future trajectory of marine turtle populations in the North Atlantic.

中文翻译：

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对英国和爱尔兰周围的海龟目击、搁浅和捕获的长期见解（1910-2018 年）

凭借一个多世纪的记录，我们详细分析了 1910 年至 2018 年间英国和爱尔兰海龟目击和搁浅的时空发生情况。硬壳龟的记录，包括红海龟 (卡瑞塔卡瑞塔, N = 240) 和肯普的雷德利海龟 (鳞甲鱼, N = 61)，随着时间的推移显着增加。然而，在最近几年中，记录显着减少。大多数硬壳龟的记录都是幼龟，并且发生在东北大西洋水域最凉爽的北方冬季。它们通常发生在英国和爱尔兰的西部，突出了随着纬度增加记录减少的模式，支持先前的建议，即幼龟通过北大西洋海流系统到达这些水域。同样，大多数棱皮龟的搁浅和目击事件（皮龟, N = 1683) 发生在英国西部和整个爱尔兰海岸线。与硬壳龟相比，棱皮龟最常记录在北方夏季月份，大多数搁浅是成年大小，其中最近的年度记录有所减少。最近所有三个物种的海龟搁浅和目击量每年减少的原因尚不清楚；然而，总体人口丰度、猎物可用性、人为威胁和可变报告工作的变化都可能有所贡献。我们的研究结果为评估气候变化引起的物种范围改变、确定人为威胁的可能证据以及评估北大西洋海龟种群的未来轨迹提供了一个有价值的参考点。