Assessment of the risk posed by toxic contamination to waterbirds on Special Protection Areas (SPAs) (ENRR703)

English Nature has a statutory role to assess the condition of Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and to advise relevant authorities, such as the Environment Agency about risks to site integrity associated with plans and projects (eg. from discharges). This project was commissioned by EN inform decision-making when discharging these responsibilities. Environment Agency Wales previously commissioned a screening level (‘tier 1’) study by Crane and others (2005) into the potential risks to shorebirds from contaminants in the Severn Estuary SPA.