After recently celebrating World Migratory Bird Day, we’re looking at an exciting new programme of RSPB work to protect and restore vital habitats for migratory birds, with the support of the Ecological Restoration Fund. This work will be focusing on a number of key landscapes which sit along the East Atlantic Flyway – a bird migration superhighway stretching from the Arctic, through Europe, all the way to the southern tip of Africa. In our second blog about this project, after our piece on habitat restoration in Ghana, Nick Williams (RSPB Flyway Conservation Outreach Officer) introduces us to an incredibly important site for migratory birds in South Africa – the Berg River Estuary.
The Berg River Estuary’s floodplain seen from the air. Credit: Andrew Bance.
Travel 90 miles north of Cape Town, up South Africa’s windswept west coast, and you will reach a remarkable place. Here the Berg River snakes its way into the Atlantic Ocean, watering an estuary of international importance that plays host to huge gatherings of wetland birds every year. One of only four estuaries along South Africa’s arid western coastline, the Berg River Estuary is now facing enormous pressures. This is the story of a vital refuge for migratory birds and the important work being done to protect it.
What makes the Berg so important?More than 250 different bird species have been recorded across the Berg River Estuary’s Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (or ‘IBA’); from African Fish Eagles to European Bee-eaters as well as globally threatened species like the Cape Cormorant and Lesser Flamingo. Of these, 127 were species of waterbirds with the estuary’s De Plaat mudflat seeing the highest densities of waders anywhere on South Africa’s Atlantic seaboard. The estuary has regularly played host to over 20,000 waterbirds at one time thanks to major influxes of migratory species. These include impressive long-distance travellers like Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint, that arrive here to rest and feed up during the South African summer before flying north, potentially as far as Siberia and the Arctic tundra to breed.
Supratidal saltmarsh is one of several important habitats found at the estuary. Credit: Giselle Murison.
With the largest expanse of saltmarsh anywhere in South Africa, the estuary is a key site for wetland species in an area that has seen great change due to agriculture, infrastructural development and mining. Dr Giselle Murison, Western Cape Estuaries Conservation Project Manager at BirdLife South Africa, observes that “along the west coast these estuarine systems stand out as being some of the most significant intact ecological corridors in an otherwise rather transformed landscape”.
An ecosystem under pressureA mixture of drought, over abstraction of water, reduced volume and quality of its freshwater inflow, and encroachment from agriculture are combining to put the estuary under enormous pressure. The reduced inflow of water is of particular concern as significantly less water run-off now flows into the estuary from the wider catchment. Extraction and dams further upstream, as well as reduced flooding in winter and lower rainfall due to climate change, are all contributing to this dramatic reduction of the crucial incoming water that supports the area’s varied habitats.
Riverbanks at the Berg are now highly vulnerable to erosion. Credit: Giselle Murison.
All this change has had a major impact on wildlife. A recent count of waterbirds revealed that numbers had declined by 66% from their base level established in 1994. Unfortunately, this is part of a wider picture of declines across the country and at the Berg it appears that migratory wading birds may be the worst affected with this group showing decreases of as much as 85% since the 1980s.
It has never been more important to protect and restore this vital hotspot of bird diversity.
Meeting the challengesEcological restoration often requires a multi-pronged approach and at the Berg River Estuary, BirdLife South Africa have been engaged in a wide variety of activities to rehabilitate and safeguard its habitats. From the creation of formally protected areas, such as the new 7000 ha Melck Protected Environment, and development of biodiversity stewardship agreements with local landowners, to scientific monitoring and environmental education work, this kind of landscape-scale conservation demands a wide range of tactics.
The estuary plays host to a variety of both migratory and non-migratory waders including the Common Ringed Plover (right), which migrates here, as well as the resident Kittlitz’s Plover (left). Credit: Ian Barber-RSPB.
Building on all this important work, BirdLife South Africa’s project will be running in partnership with the RSPB and through the support of the Ecological Restoration Fund. Ian Barber, Senior Flyway Programme Officer at the RSPB, explains that:
"An important focus of this partnership is knowledge-sharing and we recently hosted Dr Murison on a visit to some of our nature reserves in East Anglia. Here we could look at work being done on coastal and wetland habitat restoration in the UK which can help BirdLife South Africa's efforts to develop a best practice guide for estuarine habitat restoration in South Africa. Sharing information and expertise along the Flyway is central to how we work with our fellow BirdLife partners."
A key priority for the work at Berg River will be identifying the most effective habitat rehabilitation techniques in this fragile ecosystem so that, going forward, these can be scaled up across the estuary. These environmentally sound, soft engineering techniques include controlling erosion along the river’s vulnerable banks, clearing invasive plants, and improving water conservation.
Three active restoration sites have now been developed covering different habitat types (saltmarsh, reed marsh, and broader floodplain habitats) where various approaches are now being trialled to establish which restoration tools are most effective in which areas.
By working in partnership to restore the estuary, not only will its plant and animal life be better protected but in doing so a key site on the East Atlantic Flyway, the migration route that connects the UK with South Africa and over 70 other countries, will still be able to welcome huge gatherings of visiting waterbirds for many years to come.
Acknowledgements
This work is being undertaken by BirdLife South Africa in partnership with the RSPB and forms part of the RSPB Flyway Conservation team’s new programme of work to protect and restore key sites along the East Atlantic Flyway. This programme has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the Ecological Restoration Fund. The Ecological Restoration Fund supports work that protects biodiverse hotspots, rejuvenates degraded landscapes and promotes local environmental activism. They are committed to re-establishing nature’s essential interconnections while fostering cultural, social and economic opportunities for the communities inhabiting those landscapes.
Continue reading
• Conservation at a Flyway Scale: Reconnecting and restoring savannah habitat in northern Ghana• Governments of the world commit to take new action for migratory species• Saving migratory birds of prey on an international scale - the CMS Raptors MOU
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