Conservationists Track Shorebird Populations On East Anglia Coast

SNETTISHAM, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 24: Members of the Wash Wader Ringing Group measure the head of a Grey Plover before returning it to the wild on November 24, 2018 in Snettisham, United Kingdom. The Wash Wader Ringing Group, a volunteer-run bird study group of professional ornithologists and conservationists, monitors, catches, rings and takes biometrics from migratory wading birds in the Wash Estuary in Norfolk and Lincolnshire. Key species include Oystercatcher, Grey Plover, Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit, Knot and Dunlin. Bird ringing is key to understanding a range of issues they face including the potential effects of climate change or habitat loss on migration patterns, dispersal, survival rates, and ultimately, population size. This detailed information, only obtainable from marking and following individual birds, has been key in defending the Wash Estuary ecosystem from potentially damaging human activities. The Wash Estuary covers around 60,000 hectares of sandbanks, saltmarsh, mudflats and tidal coastline. In autumn and winter it is home to around 400,000 migratory waterbirds as they arrive from their breeding grounds in the Arctic Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia or Arctic Russia to take advantage of our milder climate. Many more pass through on migration, stopping to refuel on their way. It is the most important coastal wetland site in the UK for birds, and as such is subject to a raft of conservation designations, including Special Area of Conservation, National Nature Reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest. According to BirdLife International, 40% of the worlds migratory bird species are in decline, with waterbirds around the globe particularly badly affected. Destruction and degradation of key habitats and food sources, pollution and poisoning, predation and hunting, both legal and illegal are the main causes, as well as threats along their migratory flyways. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)