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Colne Estuary Low Tide Counts 2007/08

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Colne Estuary Low Tide Counts 2007/08 BTO Research Report No. 505 COLNE ESTUARY LOW TIDE COUNTS 2007/08 Authors N.A. Calbrade, A.J. Musgrove & M.M. Rehfisch Report of work carried out by the British Trust for Ornithology under contract to Natural England June 2008 © British Trust for Ornithology British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk, IP24 2PU Registered Charity No. 216652 British Trust for Ornithology Colne Estuary Low Tide Counts 2007/08 BTO Research Report No 505 N.A. Calbrade, A.J. Musgrove & M.M. Rehfisch A report of work carried out by the British Trust for Ornithology under contract to Natural England Published in April 2010 by the British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2PU, U.K. Copyright British Trust for Ornithology 2010 ISBN 978-1-906204-72-3 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the pub CONTENTS Page No. List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................... 3 List of Figures ......................................................................................................................................... 3 List of Appendices .................................................................................................................................. 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................... 5 1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................... 7 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................................. 7 1.2 Designation ............................................................................................................................. 7 1.3 WeBS Alerts ............................................................................................................................ 7 1.4 WeBS Low Tide Counts ......................................................................................................... 7 1.5 WeBS Coverage of the Colne Estuary................................................................................... 8 2. METHODS ............................................................................................................................ 11 2.1 WeBS Low Tide Counts Overview ...................................................................................... 11 2.2 Low Tide Counts 2007/08 ..................................................................................................... 11 3. RESULTS .............................................................................................................................. 15 3.1 Coverage ................................................................................................................................ 15 3.2 ‘Dot Density’ Distribution Maps ......................................................................................... 18 3.3 Species Counts and Densities ............................................................................................... 18 4. DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY ........................................................................................ 19 4.1 Overview of the 2007/08 Low Tide Counts ......................................................................... 19 4.2 Species Accounts ................................................................................................................... 19 4.2.1 Brent Goose (Dark-bellied) Branta bernicla bernicla ............................................. 19 4.2.2 Shelduck Tadorna tadorna ....................................................................................... 19 4.2.3 Wigeon Anas penelope .............................................................................................. 19 4.2.4 Teal Anas crecca ....................................................................................................... 19 4.2.5 Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus ................................................................. 20 4.2.6 Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo ............................................................................. 20 4.2.7 Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus ..................................................................... 20 4.2.8 Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta .................................................................................. 20 4.2.9 Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula ......................................................................... 20 4.2.10 Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria ............................................................................ 20 4.2.11 Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola ............................................................................. 20 4.2.12 Lapwing Vanellus vanellus ....................................................................................... 20 4.2.13 Knot Calidris canutus ............................................................................................... 20 4.2.14 Dunlin Calidris alpina ............................................................................................... 21 4.2.15 Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa islandica ......................................................... 21 4.2.16 Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica ....................................................................... 21 4.2.17 Curlew Numenius arquata ........................................................................................ 21 4.2.18 Redshank Tringa totanus .......................................................................................... 21 4.3 Summary ................................................................................................................................ 21 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................... 22 BTO Research Report No. 505 1 June 2008 Page No. References ............................................................................................................................... 22 Appendices .............................................................................................................................. 25 BTO Research Report No. 505 2 June 2008 List of Tables Page No. Table 3.1 Site coverage by count sector ........................................................................................... 17 List of Figures Page No. Figure 1.5.i The area of the Colne counted at Low Tide in 1994/95 ................................................. 8 Figure 1.5.ii Core sections on the Colne Estuary ................................................................................ 9 Figure 2.2 Sectors used for the 2007/08 Low Tide Counts ............................................................ 12 Figure 3.1 Coverage for each month .............................................................................................. 16 Figure B1 Brent Goose (Dark-bellied) Branta bernicla bernicla .................................................. 27 Figure B2 Shelduck Tadorna tadorna ........................................................................................... 27 Figure B3 Wigeon Anas penelope ................................................................................................. 28 Figure B4 Teal Anas crecca .......................................................................................................... 28 Figure B5 Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus ....................................................................... 29 Figure B6 Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo .................................................................................. 29 Figure B7 Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus ......................................................................... 30 Figure B8 Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta ..................................................................................... 30 Figure B9 Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula ............................................................................. 31 Figure B10 Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria ................................................................................ 31 Figure B11 Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola ................................................................................. 32 Figure B12 Lapwing Vanellus vanellus ........................................................................................... 32 Figure B13 Knot Calidris canutus ................................................................................................... 33 Figure B14 Dunlin Calidris alpina alpina ....................................................................................... 33 Figure B15 Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa islandica .............................................................. 34 Figure B16 Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica ............................................................................ 34 Figure B17 Curlew Numenius arquata ............................................................................................ 35 Figure B18 Redshank Tringa totanus .............................................................................................
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