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Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay SSSI BTO Research Report No. 546 Within-Site Waterbird Trends Relative to Whole-Site, Regional and National Population Trends: Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay SSSI Authors Graham Austin and Neil Calbrade Report carried out by the British Trust for Ornithology under contract to Natural England March 2010 British Trust for Ornithology British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, IP24 2PU Charity No. 21665 CONTENTS Page No. List of Tables.......................................................................................................................................3 List of Figures......................................................................................................................................5 List of Appendices...............................................................................................................................7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................................................................9 1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................11 1.1 Background...........................................................................................................................11 1.2 Objectives..............................................................................................................................11 2. METHODS........................................................................................................................................13 2.1 Waterbird Data....................................................................................................................13 2.2 Spatial Coverage...................................................................................................................13 2.3 Smoothed Waterbird Trends and Percentage Change......................................................18 2.4 Placing the Smoothed Waterbird Indices into Context.....................................................18 3. RESULTS..............................................................................................................................22 3.1 SSSI Trends..........................................................................................................................22 3.2 Sector Trends........................................................................................................................22 4. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION..................................................................................28 4.1 Species Trends......................................................................................................................28 4.1.1 Mute Swan Cygnus olor.........................................................................................28 4.1.2 Bewick’s Swan Cygnus columbianus.....................................................................28 4.1.3 European White-Fronted Goose Anser albifrons albifrons.....................................28 4.1.4 Greylag Goose Anser anser....................................................................................28 4.1.5 Wigeon Anas penelope...........................................................................................29 4.1.6 Gadwall Anas strepera...........................................................................................29 4.1.7 Teal Anas creeca....................................................................................................29 4.1.8 Mallard Anas platyrhynchos...................................................................................29 4.1.9 Pintail Anas acuta...................................................................................................29 4.1.10 Shoveler Anas clypeata..........................................................................................30 4.1.11 Pochard Aythya farina............................................................................................30 4.1.12 Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula..................................................................................30 4.1.13 Goldeneye Bucephala clangula..............................................................................30 4.1.14 Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis........................................................................30 4.1.15 Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus.................................................................31 4.1.16 Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo............................................................................31 4.1.17 Moorhen Gallinua chloropus.................................................................................31 4.1.18 Coot Fulica atra.....................................................................................................31 4.1.19 Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria..........................................................................31 4.1.20 Lapwing Vanellus vanellus.....................................................................................32 4.1.21 Sanderling Calidris alba........................................................................................32 4.2 Within Site Patterns.............................................................................................................32 4.2.1 Swans And Geese...................................................................................................32 4.2.2 Dabbling Ducks......................................................................................................32 4.2.3 Diving Ducks.........................................................................................................33 4.2.4 Waders...................................................................................................................33 4.2.5 Remaining Species.................................................................................................33 4.3 Site Overview........................................................................................................................33 BTO Research Report No. 546 1 March 2010 Page No. References..........................................................................................................................................35 Appendices.........................................................................................................................................37 BTO Research Report No. 546 2 March 2010 LIST OF TABLES Page No. Table 3.2.i Overview of trends of each species on Dungeness, Romney Marsh And Rye Bag SSSI....................................................................................................23 Table 3.2.ii Changes in the proportion of the total site population of each species Supported by each WeBS count sector......................................................................24 Table 3.2.iii Importance of WeBS count sectors on Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay SSSI by species...........................................................................................25 BTO Research Report No. 546 3 March 2010 BTO Research Report No. 546 4 March 2010 LIST OF FIGURES Page No. Figure 2.2.i WeBS count sections relative to the full extent of the Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay SSSI..........................................................................................15 Figure 2.2.ii WeBS site structure for Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay SSSI...................16 Figure 2.2.iii WeBS count sections relevant to the Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay SSSI............................................................................................................17 Figure 2.4.i Extent of Environment Agency Souther Region........................................................20 Figure 3.2.i Spatial overview of changes on individual WeBS count sectors on Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay SSSI..........................................................................................26 Figure 3.2.ii Spatial overview of changes on composite WeBS count sectors, intermediate in the WeBS Site hierarchy on Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay SSSI.............................27 BTO Research Report No. 546 5 March 2010 BTO Research Report No. 546 6 March 2010 LIST OF APPENDICES Page No. Appendix A. Plots depicting trends in numbers of waterbird species across the Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay SSSI, the EA Southern Region and the proportional contribution of the SSSI to the region total........37 Appendix B. Plots depicting trends in numbers of waterbird species on each WeBS count sector of the Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay SSSI and the proportional contribution of the sector to the total number recorded across the SSSI..........................................................................43 Appendix C. Percentage change in the numbers of each species over the short- (5 yr), medium- (10 yr) and long- (15 yr) terms), for each WeBS count section of the Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay SSSI................................................................................................................101 Appendix D. Significance of long-term change in the proportional contribution of each WeBS count section to the total number of each species on the Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay SSSI.....................................106 Appendix E. Five-year mean of peaks for the periods 1993/94 to 1997/98, 1998/99 to 2002/03 and 2003/04 to 2007/08 and Peak count over winter 2007/08 for each species
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