Wintering Bird Surveys

Our services

Desk studies and consultations to establish the extent of currently available data;
Scoping studies to discuss and agree the surveys and methods required to complete the baseline information;
High- and low-water counts of passage and wintering waterfowl on estuaries or coastal sites, including ‘through-the-tide’ counts and mapping of feeding and roosting areas;
Counts of passage and wintering wildfowl on significant inland waters;
Walkover surveys to map and count wintering populations within a study area;
Vantage Point (VP) watches through winter and passage periods, recording time and height of birds within a risk area;
Calculation of Collision Risk using VP watch data; and
Advice on avoidance, reduction and mitigation of potential impacts on wintering bird populations during development works.

ESL have a team of staff ecologists with considerable experience of planning and carrying out wintering surveys.

Timing of surveys

In general terms ‘autumn’ passage surveys take place during all or part of the period August-November, ‘winter’ surveys cover October-March and ‘spring’ passage surveys will include all or part of March-May, with the exact period in all cases depending on the agreed target species. Surveys are normally required monthly as a minimum, but more frequent surveys may be necessary where the passage duration of a particular target species is known to be short.

Coastal or estuarine surveys are normally required to cover all or particular tide states, which will dictate actual timing. VP surveys are normally required to cover dawn, daylight and dusk periods, but may also be related to the tidal cycle for locations near the coast.

Click here for information on why a survey is required.

Services

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ESL - Ecological Services