Redshank nesting on saltmarshes in Britain

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Description

This survey was undertaken to establish the breeding abundance and conservation status (i.e. stable, increasing or declining) of redshank nesting on saltmarshes in Britain. The survey was carried out in the 1996 breeding season covering 63 saltmarsh sites. This survey highlighted that saltmarshes support c.45% of the national population of redshank breeding in Britain. Since a previous survey carried out in 1985, there has been a 22.9% decline of redshank breeding on saltmarshes. The decline is thought to be caused by an increase in grazing pressure of saltmarshes, it was therefore suggested that mitigation procedures such as habitat creation and changes in agricultural management measures were required.

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This survey was carried out and funded by the RSPB.

Geographic Description

Sixty-three saltmarsh sites were surveyed, representing around 5% of the total area of saltmarsh in Britain. Sites were selected to include a range of saltmarsh habitats evenly distributed around Britain. No formal random sampling protocol was used to select sites.

The entire dataset is presented at 100m resolution.

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Data points for this dataset represent the central point of the site surveyed.

Data quality

These data have been gathered by trained field-workers and the data are of a high quality

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These data have been mapped and checked for sensitivities and typographical/geographical errors

Methods

In this survey a total of 63 saltmarsh sites in Britain were surveyed for breeding redshsank. Survey sites were selected to include a range of saltmarsh habitats and also to reflect the regional distribution of saltmarshes around the coast of Britain. Numbers of redshank breeding at each site was measured using standard methods developed by Green et al. (1984) and Green (1986). The mean number of redshank counted on survey visits up to 31 May was used as an estimate of the peak number of pairs with nests. The abundance of other species such as wildfowl and other waders were also captured as part of this survey, these data do not occur as part of this dataset.

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RSPB scientific staff and volunteers collected and analysed these data.

Citation

Data reproduced with the permission of RSPB

Rights

CC-BY

Digitised records