Breeding coastal birds in the South given a helping hand

A new project led by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust is set to boost numbers of threatened wading birds whilst also encouraging terns to return to a historically important breeding site along the Solent coastline.

The Gravelly Shores project will create new protected coastal vegetated shingle habitat on the Beaulieu Estate in the New Forest. The estate is already home to around 50% of the Solent region’s breeding population of Ringed Plover and an important site for breeding Oystercatcher.

Ringed Plover is a high conservation priority red-listed species, reflecting steep national declines in their wintering and breeding populations.

It is hoped that the new shingle habitat, covering an area of approximately 1.7 hectares, will also encourage Common, Little and Roseate terns - which no longer breed here, to return to what was historically one of the most important tern breeding sites in the UK.

Within the Solent region increased human pressure and disturbance has reduced the amount of suitable shingle nesting habitat for shorebirds, and where it occurs it is affected by coastal erosion and sea level rise. The new shingle area will be created above the high-water mark on a site with restricted access, and nesting birds will be protected by an electric fence to help deter predators.

The project team will also trial other non-lethal predation management techniques across the North Solent National Nature Reserve, to reduce losses of wader nests and chicks to predators.

Mike Short, from the GWCT who will lead the 2-year project, said: “Whilst it is right that habitat loss and disturbance can put immense pressure on nesting birds, so can high levels of predation. Using nest cameras, we have previously documented very high losses of Ringed Plover and Oystercatcher clutches to foxes, crows, and gulls.

“Aside from creating new nesting habitat that’s resilient to climate change and coastal erosion, this exciting project will enable us to evaluate nest protection cages and other management tools to aid breeding wader recovery across the reserve and wider Solent region.”

The study team will assess how effective the combined habitat and predation management measures are in helping local coastal bird populations to recover.

Gravelly Shores is a partnership between GWCT, Natural England and the Beaulieu Estate. It is funded by Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme Capital Grant Scheme which has awarded £14.5million to 63 conservation projects in support of species recovery.

Tony Juniper, Chair of Natural England, said: “Nature is in drastic decline all around us, with England now one of the most nature depleted countries on Earth.

“Many once common animals and plants are much reduced with some 15% of species at risk of becoming extinct here.

“It’s a dire situation but can still be turned around.”

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