4.12 NORTH NORFOLK COAST LTC site code:CN Centre grid: TF8946 JNCC estuarine review site: 102 Habitat zonation: 3447 ha intertidal, 2490 ha subtidal, 2701 ha nontidal Statutory status: North Norfolk Coast SPA (UK9009031), North Norfolk Coast Ramsar (7UK011) Winter waterbird interest: Little Grebe, Cormorant, Bittern, Pink-footed Goose, White-fronted Goose, Dark-bellied Brent Goose, Shelduck, Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, Pintail, Shoveler, Scaup, Common Scoter, Velvet Scoter, Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, Oystercatcher, Avocet, Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Lapwing, Knot, Sanderling, Dunlin, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Redshank, Waterbird assemblage SITE DESCRIPTION The LTC area was chosen with the SPA boundary in mind, so the amount of agreement between The North Norfolk Coast comprises the coastline the boundaries is close (Figure 4.12.2). However, from the northern edge of Hunstanton in the west a few areas of non-estuarine habitat within the to Salthouse Marshes in the east and forms what SPA were not counted for the survey, these being is arguably the most diverse and complex at Holme, Titchwell, Burnham Norton, Holkham, estuarine system in the UK. There is no single Blakeney, Cley and Salthouse. With greater principal river, but several small streams enter manpower resources, it would be ideal to cover the sea here. The coast is the most extensive these areas at the same time in the future. In example of a barrier beach system in the UK, and addition, no effort was made to survey offshore the large areas of saltmarsh (over 2,000 hectares) birds at this site owing to time constraints. The are the most diverse in the UK in terms of boundaries of the Ramsar site are entirely geomorphology and biology. There is virtually no coincident with those of the SPA. direct industrial influence on the site at all, with the main pressures being through recreational In addition to the adjacent non-tidal habitats disturbance and exploitation of natural resources. within the SPA, the site is adjacent to the Wash Longer-term threats from sea-level rise may be a to the west, with which much interchange of birds more serious problem in the future, however, takes place. On very large tides, at least, sub- leading to the need for careful consideration of stantial numbers of birds feeding in the Wash how best to provide sea defences (M. Rooney pers. will roost around on the North Norfolk Coast (M. comm.). Rooney pers. comm.) and this must be taken into account when interpreting bird usage of these two COVERAGE AND INTERPRETATION sites. There is unlikely to be much daily dispersal eastwards, however, along the long, narrow, non- The North Norfolk Coast was counted for the estuarine shore. Pink-footed Geese, some duck scheme during the winter of 1997–98, data being (e.g. Wigeon) and grassland plovers use inland submitted for all four months. Figure 4.12.1 shows areas to feed, and the numbers of sea-duck the positions of the 95 sections counted for the recorded by various schemes depend greatly on survey. count conditions. Most movements of waterbirds Figure 4.12.1: LTC sections at the North Norfolk Coast, winter 1997–98 E S T U A R I N E W A T E R B I R D S A T L O W T I D E 61 N O R T H N O R F O L K C O A S T Figure 4.12.2: LTC and SPA boundaries, with overlap, at the North Norfolk Coast in and out of the site appear to result from day vs overall pattern. Many of the individual species night differences rather than those related to the were widespread but there was a division between state of the tide, although there is much still to those occurring more commonly on the inner, learn about the movements of some species (M. largely saltmarsh, sections (such as Little Grebe, Rooney pers. comm.). Brent Goose, Shelduck, Wigeon, Teal, Golden Plover and Lapwing) and those on the outer in- WATERBIRD DISTRIBUTION tertidal flats (especially Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover, Sanderling, Dunlin and Bar- Low tide distribution maps from the winter of tailed Godwit). Curlews and Redshanks were 1997–98 are presented for 24 of the 31 species of perhaps the mostly widespread of those species principal interest listed above. For clarity, smaller mapped, however, occurring throughout the inner dots were used to display the distributions of and outer parts of the site. Numbers of Redshanks many of these species. Additional maps of total recorded at low tide were notably higher than those birds and total birds weighted by 1% threshold previously thought to be present; similarly, large value are also presented (Figure 4.12.3). Of the numbers of Snipe were located during the remaining species, Bittern, Gadwall, Shoveler and intensive surveys of the saltmarshes. Knot were Common Scoter were noted in only very small numerous but highly localised to Bob Hall’s Sands. numbers and White-fronted Goose, Scaup and Pintail, Avocet and Ruff were largely confined to Velvet Scoter were unrecorded. These species Blakeney and Brancaster Harbours. These two ar- occur principally on non-surveyed parts of the eas also held concentrations of Goldeneyes and SPA, such as the freshwater marshes at Holkham, Red-breasted Mergansers, although these two Titchwell and Cley, or offshore. As mentioned for species were more widely distributed also. Black- the Humber Estuary account, numbers of Scaup tailed Godwits were mostly found near Brancaster were high during the 1995–96 and 1996–97 winters and around Cley and Blakeney. Although most of at these two sites, perhaps as a result of a cold- the Pink-footed Geese feed away from the site weather influx from the continent, but have during the day, a large roosting flock was noted declined substantially since then. on one occasion at Scolt Head. In addition, a concerted effort was made to record the occur- The totals map shows high densities of birds rence of passerines using the site. The most through much of the site, especially on many of numerous species proved to be Skylark followed the saltmarshes and in Blakeney Harbour. by Rock Pipit (presumed to be of continental However, low densities of birds were present at origin), Linnet and Reed Bunting, along with more low tide in the Holkham Gap area in the centre of specialist species such as Snow Bunting, Lapland the site. The weighted total map reveals a similar Bunting, Shore Lark and Twite. E S T U A R I N E W A T E R B I R D S A T L O W T I D E 62 TOTAL (1 DOT = 5 BIRDS) WEIGHTED E STUARI N EWATRBIDS A TLOWIDE N ORTHFLKCAS LITTLE GREBE CORMORANT 63 PINK-FOOTED GOOSE DARK-BELLIED BRENT GOOSE SHELDUCK WIGEON TEAL PINTAIL Figure 4.12.3 (i): Low tide waterbird distributions recorded at the North Norfolk Coast, winter 1997-98 GOLDENEYE RED-BREASTED MERGANSER OYSTERCATCHER AVOCET 64 RINGED PLOVER GOLDEN PLOVER N O R T H N O R F O L K C O A S T E S T U A R I N E W A T E R B I R D S A T L O W T I D E GREY PLOVER LAPWING KNOT SANDERLING Figure 4.12.3 (ii): Low tide waterbird distributions recorded at the North Norfolk Coast, winter 1997-98 DUNLIN RUFF E STUARI N EWATRBIDS A TLOWIDE N ORTHFLKCAS BLACK-TAILED GODWIT BAR-TAILED GODWIT 65 CURLEW REDSHANK Figure 4.12.3 (iii): Low tide waterbird distributions recorded at the North Norfolk Coast, winter 1997-98 4.13 BREYDON WATER LTC site code:DY Centre grid: TG4907 JNCC estuarine review site: 103 Habitat zonation: 394 ha intertidal, 80 ha subtidal, 7 ha nontidal Statutory status: Breydon Water SPA (UK9009181), Breydon Water Ramsar (7UK100) Winter waterbird interest: Cormorant, Bewick’s Swan, Pink-footed Goose, White-fronted Goose, Wigeon, Gadwall, Shoveler, Avocet, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit, Waterbird assemblage SITE DESCRIPTION Figure 4.13.2 shows how the Breydon Water SPA contains a large area of non-tidal marshland along Breydon Water, forming the lower reaches of the the lower Yare valley in addition to the actual Rivers Yare and Waveney, is a bar-built estuary intertidal estuary considered by the LTCs. An separated from the North Sea by the spit of land assessment of birds using the SPA must therefore on which Great Yarmouth sits. At low tide, only a take these additional areas into account. The narrow water channel remains, closer to the south western boundary of the Breydon Water SPA is, shore than the north. There are some fairly small additionally, contiguous with land contained areas of saltmarsh, principally at the eastern end. within the much larger Broadland SPA. The The main conservation issues in the area involve boundaries of the Ramsar site, however, are boating, wildfowling and grazing marsh almost identical to those of the area surveyed by management, although the river channel leading the LTCs and do not include the non-tidal out from Breydon through the port of Great marshes. Yarmouth to the sea is highly industrialised. The site is relatively isolated from other estuar- COVERAGE AND INTERPRETATION ies and thus inter-site movements are probably fairly limited on a day-to-day basis. However, Breydon Water was counted for the scheme during colour-ringing of Black-tailed Godwits in recent the winter of 1998–99, although no February count years has revealed some interesting movements was made. Figure 4.13.1 shows the positions of between here and the Blyth Estuary to the south.