Just over a week ago the Thames estuary in general and the Isle of Grain in North Kent in particular, were propelled into the media as the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, tried to stack the odds in favour of a Thames Estuary Airport in the forthcoming strategic review of aviation.
Here’s a flavour of the media last week in the Telegraph and Guardian.
The analysis has continued, revealing the array of issues that such a development would bring. Here’s our own Conservation Director, Martin Harper linking the airport back to deeper concerns that the coalition Government are using the cover of our economic woes to fundamentally unpick the means of protecting our natural environment.
Juliette Jowit writing in the Guardian looks at the way protection, driven by European law, has succeeded in safeguarding the best bits of nature over three decades.
One of the long running concerns about estuary airports is the greater risk of bird strike – a serious issue in terms of human safety and in the clearances that would be necessary in an area protected because of ... its birds.
I’ve been asked what birds Thames is important for ... here’s a flavour, and I plan to come back to this topic soon.
An avocet in flight - just one of the species for which the Thames is internationally important
The greater Thames is a big estuary and is a winter life-line for over 300,000 waterfowl (that’s duck’s geese and wading birds) and is the reason the coastal wetlands of the Thames is designated as a series of Special Protection Areas.
Now, not all these birds cram on the area around the Isle of Grain in North Kent singled out for a proposed four-runway airport – but the impact of massive land claim within a dynamic tidal estuary will go far beyond the site itself and this will risk affecting other areas beyond the footprint of the development.
The term ‘internationally important’ is often used to describe birds that depend on wetlands. This is not an arbitrary description but is an indication that a site regularly supports 1% or more of the population of that species. How do we know that? Because of the dedication of an army of largely volunteer birdwatchers contributing to surveys such as the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) ... their contribution to conservation is immense.
Ironically it was an earlier Thames Estuary airport – Foulness in the late 60s – that promoted the start of the Birds of Estuaries Inquiry by the BTO, a forerunner of WeBS.
The stars of the Thames (all internationally important) are dark-bellied brent geese, teal (our smallest duck), shoveler (a duck) and a long list of wading birds; oystercatcher, avocet, ringed plover, grey plover, knot, dunlin, bar-tailed godwit, black-tailed godwit and redshank.
In addition, the Swale (the tidal channel between the isle of Sheppey and the Kent coast and not far from the end of the proposed airport) adds pintail and golden plover to the list of internationally important species.
It doesn’t end there, the north Kent marshes are a vital area for red-listed nesting lapwings and the Thames and Medway is the most important place in the UK for little egrets.
Fancy a chance to see some of all this?
On 2 February (in the week of the 200 anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens) we’re organising a special walk. Starting from the main car park at 10am, and again at 1pm, the 3-mile round trip will take walkers into the heart of the Kent grazing marsh that inspired Dickens’s novel Great Expectations, serialised on TV over the Christmas break. The tour also takes in the marshes wildlife and historic buildings.
There is a charge for this event £6 for adults, £5 for children with discounts for RSPB members – and booking is essential please call 01634 222480 or email northkentmarshes@rspb.org.uk
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