Dr Philipp Boersch‑Supan

New paper - Waders of the UK's open coast

A new research paper published with BTO colleagues underlines the importance of rocky shores and sandy beaches for waterbirds in the UK. The study summarised the results of a citizen science survey scheme - the third Non-Estuarine Waterbird Survey (NEWS III).

The results showed that Oystercatcher was the most abundant species on the open coast, followed by Curlew and Turnstone. Four species - Lapwing, Curlew, Redshank and Turnstone - showed significant abundance declines since the previous survey (NEWS II) in winter 2006/07. A single species - Sanderling - had significantly increased in abundance.

All UK countries have non-estuarine coastal stretches which support high densities of waders, with Scotland being particularly important. Further notable areas are located in north-east England, Orkney, North Wales and Outer Ards in Northern Ireland.

The study was led by Liz Humphries and is published in the journal Bird Study:
EM Humphries, GE Austin, T Frost, H Mellan, PH Boersch-Supan, NK Burton, DE Balmer (2021)
Wader populations on the UK’s open coast: results of the 2015/16 Non-Estuarine Waterbird Survey (NEWS-III) and a review of population trends
Bird Study doi:10.1080/00063657.2021.1884184