One day I will become a WeBs surveyor and join a band of dedicated (and in some cases intrepid) volunteers who chart the fortunes of the waterbirds that throng our wetlands. Although WeBs is one survey I haven’t helped with – I have had many reasons to use the results and be grateful to the legions of volunteers who collect the data.
The results for the winter of 2010/11 are now published and I am looking forward to getting my hands on the fat little book of numbers and graphs (it’s my inner scientist) – but for now here are some highlights. if you want more detail you can find them here.
The winter of 2010/11 was harsh – the coldest for 35 years and under those conditions birds are pushed out of the continent towards more survivable temperatures further west. The survey results show this clearly with some sites cramming in lots more birds than usual. Two of our surviving inland wetlands, the Ouse Washes and the Somerset levels showed up as important winter refuges with the Levels holding peak counts of 50,000 wigeon and 70,000 lapwings.
The Severn Estuary has often featured on this blog – it’s a big, dynamic estuary with the second highest tidal range in the world (the Bay of Fundy in straddling the boarder of the USA and Canada has the highest, by the way). Its natural charms would be enough to get it a mention on this blog, but the real reason is the seemingly constant threat posed by proposals to dam the estuary to harness the power of the tide to generate electricity.
One dunlin - easy to count! Picture Andy Hay, RSPB Images
Massed ranks of dunlins - a counting challenge for the volunteers that support the Wetland Bird Survey. Picture Andy Hay, RSPB Images
And then they all fly up - time to start counting again ... one, two, three! Picture Chris Gomersall, RSPB Images
Central to a decision on any such proposal will be an understanding of the impact on the natural world – including the waterbirds that migrate and use the estuary as a stop-over or as their winter home. The winter on 2010/11 serves to highlight the vital role the Severn plays as a number of species. 75,000 geese, ducks and waders used the Severn Estuary during the freezing winter, eight species of which now use the estuary in internationally important numbers. Many of these birds come from breeding areas as far afield as Iceland and Siberia, including dunlin (24,350) and ringed plover (1,080) whose wintering populations across the UK as a whole are at all-time lows.
Along with dunlin and ringed plover, the six other species to use the Severn Estuary in internationally important numbers (more than 1% of the total international population) are mute swan (400), Bewick’s swan (250), shelduck (4,230), pintail (730), shoveler (570), and redshank (2,920). The peak count for the Severn in this cold winter was well up on recent winter counts and highlights the role the estuary plays in spells of freezing weather.
The sheer numbers of birds counted by WeBs is impressive – but if there are so many what’s all the fuss about? Many of the waterbirds featured are international travellers, they migrate vast distances from their arctic breeding grounds and depend utterly on our wetlands for food and shelter. The UK has a profound international obligation to protect and safeguard these global travellers – many of our sites (the Severn included) comfortably exceed agreed thresholds of international importance making their effective protection a vital priority.
One of the surveys that preceded WeBs was the Birds of Estuaries Enquiry started in the fallout of a proposed airport in the Thames Estuary (Foulness in the late 1960s) – knowing that the battles to save our most special places for birds would be lost without the best data on why they are important is a flame that today’s WeBs counters carry forward – we owe them a huge vote of thanks.
WeBs is a partnership between the British Trust for Ornithology, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, the RSPB and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.
When I get my fat little book of data I’ll bring you some more highlights and issues that the counts reveal.
If you are interested in WeBs and perhaps would like to take part - here's more information.
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I've just added a link to the published report issuu.com/.../7