Recreational activity and interactions with birds within SSSIs on the North-West coast of England (RP03020)

This report has been commissioned by Natural England to assess levels of recreational disturbance to overwintering birds across a range of estuary sites in North-west England. All the sites are designated as nationally and internationally important for over-wintering birds. Fieldwork included ornithological work (counts of birds and people combined with behavioural observations of the responses of birds) and visitor surveys (involving interviews with a random sample of visitors). Fieldwork was focussed at specific survey locations (spread around the coast from the Dee Estuary to the Solway); locations selected as ones where birds and access were thought to coincide and where there could be issues from disturbance. Both visitor and bird data were collected at each location, usually with the visitor data collected from an access point or car-park and the bird data from a suitable vantage point nearby.