KENT NEWS:
The effect of human behaviour on birds in Pegwell Bay is to be assessed in a new study.
The National Nature Reserve is home to internationally-important populations of wading birds such as turnstone, sanderling, grey plover and bar-tailed godwit.
These long-distance migrants come from as far away as Canada and Siberia to spend the winter in the UK for the coastline’s rich supply of invertebrate food such as marine worms, shellfish and crustaceans.
However, there is growing concern that man’s commercial and recreational activities are disturbing feeding and roosting birds.
Tony Swandale, Kent Wildlife Trust’s coastal warden for east Kent, said: “Every time the birds get disturbed by people or dogs, they waste vital energy which can only be replaced by finding more food. This can potentially reduce their chances of survival.
“Human disturbance can disrupt the feeding and roosting patterns of birds and, in extreme cases, drive them away completely.
“Single disturbance events are rarely fatal – however, the cumulative effect of repeated disturbance can be.”
This latest study will be supported and funded by Natural England and Grantscape and will take place over two years.
Pegwell Bay is a Site Of Special Scientific Interest and was declared a National Nature Reserve by Sir David Attenborough in 1999.
A study of turnstones wintering around the Thanet coast in 2000/2001 revealed their fat reserves were lower than expected.
The Thanet turnstone weighed on average 25.4 per cent less than those at a less disturbed site in Scotland.
A Kent Wildlife Trust spokesman said: “Birds that nest on the beaches or in the marshes are also very sensitive to the continual disturbance.
“The little tern abandoned Sandwich Bay in the 1990s and numbers of breeding ringed plovers have dropped from double figures to only a single pair.”
Trust officials are also concerned that visitors to the area have their enjoyment ruined by motorcyclists, off-road drivers and dog-owners who allow their pets to chase the birds. The impact of these and other activities will form part of the study.
The data for the study is being gathered by ornithological surveyors and is being overseen by the Disturbance Study Working Group involving Natural England, Kent Wildlife Trust, the RSPB, the Environment Agency, the British Trust For Ornithology and the University of Kent.
The findings will be used to inform the future management of the site.
POSTED: 10/03/2010 15:00:00
Bookmark with:
Email to a friend: