1. Bird disturbance – causes and impacts Rebecca Moberly Planning & Advocacy Lead (Kent, Sussex and Surrey)

2. Birds and disturbance What do we mean by disturbance? What activities disturb birds? What are the impacts of disturbance? Housing, access and disturbance

3. What do we mean by disturbance? Human activity that may influence a bird’s behaviour or survival

4. What activities cause disturbance? Site specific as to where and when they occur Difficult to generalise about activities Most common on estuaries: aircraft, baitdiggers, vehicles, boats, walkers and dogs

5. Impacts of disturbance Stress Direct mortality Avoidance of suitable habitat Behavioural response Change in food intake rate Population consequence ?

6. Interaction of factors Baie de Somme, Oystercatchers Disturbance influenced mortality only when cockle stocks low

7. A matter of choice By feeding turnstones and then disturbing them it has been shown that the birds that fly away 1 st are those that are full….. Birds can react as they would to a predator & make choices according to risk

8. Examples Breeding Little Terns: birds avoid busy beaches, signage and wardening leads to increased success Breeding Ringed Plovers: avoid busy areas, trampling of nests, marked population consequence. Wintering geese & swans: avoid disturbed sites Wintering waders: mortality in some circumstances

9. Links between housing, access and birds People visit the countryside and coast for a wide range of reasons. Visitors at sites will often be a complex mix of local residents, day trippers and tourists. How does housing relate to visitor numbers? What is the link between visitor numbers and impacts on bird populations?

10. When is access a problem? Access is important for well-being, conservation, education etc. In general, potential threat caused by: –Large groups –Faster moving –Accompanied by dogs –Erratic Adverse effect when survival or breeding success affected Responses site and species specific

11. Finally Disturbance and urban effects need to be considered in context with other threats Climate change may result in different birds present and different access patterns Difficult to define specific distances for urban development There may be existing impacts from which difficult to separate impacts of new housing