Space for Shorebirds in Northumberland

Wader Quest Article number G8: 27/01/2021 Richard Willis Senior Wildlife Ranger, Space for Shorebirds Northumberland County Council

Sam the Dog Ranger making sure he is familiar with the Space for Shorebirds guidance © Mark Eaton

SUPPORTING SHOREBIRD CONSERVATION Registered Charity (England and Wales) 1183748

2020 was a remarkable year by anybody’s standards. In Northumberland the year of Covid-19 also coincided with the creation of a new ranger-led service on the Northumberland coast, provided by Northumberland County Council. For anyone not aware, Northumberland is on the north east coast of England, it is a place steeped in history, being the one of the cradles of western European Christianity in the dark ages, the location of one of the first recorded Viking raids, a land of ancient kingdoms and castles galore and in the south a land which bore witness to the industrial revolution and coal mining. It’s also has a coastline of stunning beauty, with open sandy beaches, hard rocky platforms and islands, interspersed with discrete areas of mud and backed by some impressive sand dunes, supporting important plant communities. All of these natural bounties make it a host to internationally important numbers of Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres and Purple Sandpiper Calidris maritima as well as nationally important numbers of European Golden Plovers Pluvialis apricaria, Common Ringed Plovers Charadrius hiaticula, Common Redshanks Tringa totanus and Sanderlings Calidris alba. Almost all of Northumberland’s coastline is important for wading birds, being part of the Northumberland Shore SSSI.

The rocky shore at Hauxley currently only supports low numbers of turnstone and purple sandpiper. Monitoring work shows that this area is heavily used by walkers and dog walkers © Richard Willis

Like much of the British coastline there is a history of free open access to which people have become accustomed, an area where people enjoy recreation, be it walking, angling, bird watching or dog walking. Increasing numbers of houses are being built and planned in the coastal zone and tourism is increasing and forms an important pillar of Northumberland’s economy. Northumberland is no longer the hidden gem of England; it’s been found. In recent years a number of strategic mitigation schemes have been set up by local authorities to reduce the impacts of the recreational activities of new residents and visitors. Bird Aware in the Solent, Bird Wise on the Kent coast and the City of Sunderland’s Coast Project are just some examples where

© Wader Quest 2021. All rights reserved. 3 local authorities are facing up to the challenge to protect their shorebirds at the same time as providing new homes. Northumberland County Council has been preparing its local plan for several years; the plan which determines how and where development will be carried out in the county. The habitat regulations assessment, which the authority is required to undertake as part of this process, showed that without mitigation our local plan could affect the integrity of those internationally important populations of waders. Doing nothing wasn’t an option, the authority needed a strategic response which addresses disturbance to Purple Sandpiper feeding at Stag Rocks, Bamburgh. Our rangers waders at the coast. characterise this species as being tough, living life right next to Fundamental to the habitat regulations the waves, but vulnerable because they are so dependent on the thin strip of rocky shore habitat assessment was scientific research led by © Richard Willis Newcastle University (Whittingham et al, 2020). It shows that even a species with opportunist tendencies, such as the turnstone is being impacted by disturbance. Areas in proximity to a safe undisturbed off-shore island show Ruddy Turnstone populations declines have been slower than areas where such a refuge is not available, albeit in the context of national population declines. At the very least even current levels of disturbance is turning otherwise good wader habitat into suboptimal habitat. Space for Shorebirds was set up with the aim of addressing the impacts of recreational disturbance to shorebirds associated with the Northumberland Shore SSSI, primarily through education and engagement. A huge proportion of the coast in Northumberland has never had a ranger presence. So for some it can be quite a surprise that suddenly someone is asking them to think about shorebirds when they are at the coast. On the other hand, many people have questions that they have been waiting to ask and now here we are to help. Questions like, ‘what is the little white one with the fast legs’ and, ‘what is the one with the big orange beak?’. Sometimes our conservations can be challenging, particularly when disturbance is ongoing. Staying calm and being friendly is essential as we want people to see that the birds need and deserve our respect and help. There is a tendency by some, even some people in conservation, to lump all waders together in a homogenous mass in terms of their habitats and feeding requirements. Our challenge is to help people appreciate each species and see the Ruddy Turnstone at Boulmer. An internationally important differences between the species and population of turnstone spend the non-breeding season on the understand why each is important in its own Northumberland coast, but scientific research shows that human right. We are telling our shorebird stories, disturbance is affecting their distribution © Richard Willis

(spaceforshorebirds.co.uk), this helps people to empathise and understand the pressures our birds face, including disturbance, their migration and how and where they feed. For example thinking of our Purple Sandpiper, a rocky shore specialist, it is tough but fragile living life almost entirely at the water’s edge taking all the conditions that the wild North Sea can throw at them, but they are so vulnerable because they are so wedded to a thin belt of rocky shore habitat. If they get disturbed they have nowhere else to go. Out and about our rangers are Boulmer hosts a wide range of waders, including this dunlin, plus treated to some brilliant spectacles of the Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata, Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica, Northumberland coast, inspiring sunrises, Sanderling, Ruddu Turnstone and Purple Sandpiper. All wader species benefit from this location being a focus area of our ranger presence the clamour of thousands of migrating ©Richard Willis geese, dolphins breaching in an icy sea. Over the past 6 months we’ve had some rarities too; a Buff-breasted Sandpiper Calidris subruficollis (my favourite), Pacific Golden Plover Pluvialis fulva, White-winged Tern Chlidonias leucopterus , plus a host of passerine rarities. One of the highlights to date was in November taking part in the Wader Quest Wader Conservation World Watch 7. We got a real feeling of solidarity of being part of something big; that other people all round the world are striving to protect their birds, our birds. We are dog lovers at Space for Shorebirds, but research shows that at most coastal sites at least 50% of bird disturbance involves a dog, so dog owners are the single most important group of people that we must reach. I remember reading an article by the author Simon Barnes several years ago, explaining that dogs are conservationists. Yes, I thought, I agree because dog’s inspire people to get outside and experience nature. Many of my best wildlife experiences have been when I’ve had one of my beloved German shepherd dogs by my side. In Northumberland safe off-lead dog walking areas are very limited because of the presence of livestock, so people come to the coast especially for their dogs to have a run. So we are recruiting Dog Rangers to One of our A-frame guidance boards in location at Stag Rocks, Bamburgh. This small area can attract up to 200 Purple Sandpipers, act as champions; dog owners that making it one of the most important places for the species on the east appreciate the nature around them and are coast of England © Richard Willis pleased to sign the Dog Ranger pledge, to © Wader Quest 2021. All rights reserved. 5 look out for shorebirds, to give them space and promise not to chase the birds. This initiative is going really well and a community of dog owning shorebird lovers is developing! To complement this we’ll be holding birding for dog owners group sessions once covid restrictions allow. Space for Shorebird rangers have enforcement powers to instruct dog owners to put their pet on a lead where off lead dogs are causing serious disturbance to wildlife. This is a useful deterrent and could be important during the breeding season, however we are well aware that gaining friends and supporters for the birds and our project is the best way to make progress. Explaining to people about our shorebirds and encouraging them to be aware of the waders and giving the birds space is the key message. What is absolutely clear is that Northumberland’s waders can only be protected and Space for Shorebirds can only achieve its aims by working with the residents of Northumberland. We also have other aspects of work in progress from nest protection schemes for ringed plover and tern species, to mapping inland wet grassland sites used by waders, to getting a full Header photo © Gavin Duthie public events calendar established - busy times indeed. A significant part of what we are doing is recreational disturbance monitoring at our focus areas. This involves recording all recreational activity in the area, the type of activity, the impact to the birds that are present, the species and numbers affected and the distance flown by flushed birds. I’ve been a bird surveyor for over 15 years and it really can be a challenge to capture the information when an area full of birds gets an influx of people. This is time consuming hard work, but it will tell us if we are succeeding and where we need to direct our resources in future. Whilst we are planning to succeed we are very aware of the challenges we face, so our disturbance monitoring could also provide vital evidence if it emerges that restricting access to some areas of the coast is the only way forward to give space to our shorebirds. A final word is to ask all to support uson social media on Instagram, Facebook and on twitter. It would really help in these early days for us.