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Solent Disturbance and Mitigation Project

Resources

• Solent Bird Disturbance and Mitigation Project: Update 1 (Jan 10)
• Phase 1 report (103 pages).  
• Solent recreation and disturbance project:  Winter bird survey, first year report (Sept 09) - 15mb pdf file.

The project was initiated by the Solent Forum in response to concerns over the impact of recreational pressure on features of the Solent SPA, SAC and Ramsar Sites. Of particular concern is the likely effect of increased visitor pressure and recreational use on these sites arising from proposed new housing development within reach of the Solent shores. The report reviews the policies in the South East Plan for new housing within the local authority areas bordering the Solent SPA, SAC and Ramsar Sites and changes to the Plan that have been proposed by the Secretary of State to protect and enhance biodiversity. Phase I of this project has:

1. collated existing data on the distribution of housing and human activities around the Solent,
2. assessed stakeholder opinion of the importance of recreational disturbance on birds through a series of workshops and interviews,
3. collated data on bird distribution and abundance around the Solent and (iv) outlined the range of mitigation measures that could potentially minimise the impacts of increased recreational disturbance caused by increased housing in the Solent area.

The report highlights the high current human population living within a short distance of the Solent shoreline. There are high levels of housing around the shoreline, with particularly high densities in the urban areas of Southampton and Portsmouth. Future development is likely to result in a large increase in the residential population, particularly in the vicinity of Southampton, Portsmouth and Fareham. The Solent provides locations for a wide range of recreational activities. In contrast to the long-term datasets on bird population sizes, there seems to be little systematic monitoring of recreational access and little information to determine how patterns of access have changed over time and how they may change in the future. The population trends of most bird species wintering in the Solent reflect the trend in the respective national population.

Several species, particularly wildfowl, have increased greatly in the Solent since the 1980s, mainly in Solent and Southampton Water SPA. Information on breeding birds is less comprehensive and available only for specific sites. In order to determine how new housing might change visitor levels in the future it will be necessary to separate local visitors from tourists, categorise visitors according to the activities undertaken at sites and take into account the variation between sites in terms of attractiveness and suitability for different activities.

Two other phases of the project are planned and are currently being further developed with phase 1 providing the background information for these future phases. Phase II will assess the current impact of current visitor numbers and activities on the survival rates of shorebirds throughout the Solent. Phase III will predict the impact of future changes in housing density and assess associated mitigation measures on the number of people visiting the Solent, and the associated impact on the survival rates of shorebirds. The timescale for phases II and III is uncertain, as funding has not yet been secured.