Objective
The objective of the project is to improve the 'hosting capacity' of four sites along the Atlantic migration route: the Exe estuary (West Country, UK), Golfe du Morbihan and Marais de Poitevin (France) and the Cadiz nature park (Spain). To achieve this, habitat improvement works (lagoons, former salt pans, wet meadows), management of water levels in function of the birds' requirements (nesting, foraging) and reinforcement of habitat protection (land purchase, expansion of the SPAs) are to be carried out. The sites will be provided with a management plan which will pay particular attention to integrating the notion of functional units for the benefit of birdlife.
Themes common to all the sites will be examined (visitor reception, integrating local policies, monitoring bird populations, management of site hydrology, integration of agriculture and conservation) and this is to lead to the publication of reference works. The experience gained by this project is intended to be taken up at other sites along the Atlantic seaboard.
Many species of aquatic bird use, at some point during their annual lifecycle, sites scattered along the Atlantic seaboard. These coastal environments, often brackish-water habitats, are notably frequented by species such as the black-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus), the avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) and the spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) during migration, wintering or breeding. The most important sites for these birds and associated species have been protected as nature reserve and classified as SPA.
In spite of the conservation actions undertaken, the isolation of these protected sites and their small surface area makes them vulnerable to external threats. The abandonment of hydrologicl management in the former salt pans and the development of new activities (tourism, intensive agriculture, infrastructure) around the sites entail various forms of degeneration which lower the quality of these habitats and their capacity to host visiting birds.
Topic(s)
Data not availableCall for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
29276 Brest
France