WeBS Bird Surveys Count on Volunteers......

Coastwise members include many who are keen on birding, so Tim Jones (one of the two Tims of "The Birds of Lundy" fame) received a warm welcome.
Tim's ulterior motive was recruitment of Wetland Bird Survey volunteers for the 2 vacant Taw Torridge Estuary beats, so members heard a very interesting account of WeBS' history and objectives.
We learned that the seeds were sown in 1947, when wildfowl counts were started.Later separate duck counts were started and in 1954 these were formalised and combined for wetland birds. This became the Wetland Birds Survey run by the BTO in 1993.

The data garnered from this is an important element in supporting the establishment and maintenance of wetland reserves, with their ecological benefits including providing a haven for long-distance migrators such as dark-bellied Brent Geese on their long trip from E.Siberia.
However, wetlands are under threat from all quarters - draining, housing infill, rubbish dumping, dams, pollution, climate and sea level change, and disturbance by, e.g. dog walkers and jetskiers. Support and protection is offered by three types of designation; the Ramsar (not an obscure acronym, but a city in Iran !) Convention on Wetlands sites, the African/Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (snappy title), and EU Conservation legislation. As a result, UK Special Protected Areas have strong legal protection.

Members learned that WeBS depends on volunteers (although data handling is done by professionals), is coordinated by the BTO and supported by the JNCC, RSPB and the WWTs. The surveyors estimate species numbers, track population trends, monitor the health of their wetland area, identify key species sites and monitor and report on threats. The bto.org/volunteers surveys site provides a large amount of help in ID and conducting surveys.
As a postscript Tim showed members a superb pictures of a spoonbill, unimaginatively named FJ9 on its leg-ring, that was hatched in southern Spain, came North through west France, and commutes between the TTE, Norfolk and Dutch wetlands.

Overall a very compelling pitch....when Tim left our coordinator John Broomhead had the names of enough volunteers to complete the full TTE requirement.