Bird disturbance at our coastal reserves

Disturbance occurs when people or their activities trigger a natural threat response in birds, leading to negative impacts on bird health and their chances of survival.

Birds have evolved a whole range of behaviours to help them survive natural threats and predators. Using these behaviours should be rare as they often result in the bird sacrificing its long-term health or chances of successfully rearing young in order to survive the immediate threat.

For example, when birds sense a threat, their bodies fill with adrenaline and they become very stressed for a short time until they can be certain the threat has passed. When threatened, feeding birds will likely fly away, reducing the amount of time they have left in the day to get all the vital nutrients they need, possibly leading to malnourishment.

Disturbance particularly impacts birds nesting on the ground as adults may be forced to fly up frequently or abandon nests completely. Disturbance can therefore have a serious impact on bird survival rates and can lead to population decline.

During the summer months, many shorebirds nest on beaches. This means that their nests, eggs and young are particularly vulnerable at the same time of year when beaches are particularly busy with humans.

During the breeding season, adult birds work tirelessly to protect their nests and make sure their chicks are well-fed. They are also very wary of predators and the slightest hint of trouble can cause birds to leave their nests, often alerting all the other birds in the area with their alarm calls.

When people or their dogs get too close to breeding birds, birds respond in the same way as they would do to a predator. When frequent disturbance takes place at a beach, these birds may even completely abandon their eggs or chicks. Even low levels of disturbance can cause birds to abandon suitable breeding areas, reducing the breeding success of the species as a whole. Even if the nests are only unattended temporarily, eggs or chicks are at risk of predation, trampling or exposure to the elements.

It is important to remember that all wild birds’ nests and eggs are protected by law and it is illegal to disturb, damage or destroy any nests. 

Each year, huge numbers of birds feed on Kent's shores before migrating South to their wintering grounds. At a similar time, thousands of wildfowl and waders arrive from the far North to spend the winter in our milder climate.

For the birds leaving our shores, they need to spend most of their time feeding to give themselves the energy required for their long journeys.

The birds that over-winter here need to spend the short winter days feeding, resting and saving energy to survive the winter weather. In late winter, they then start to feed up for the long return journey back to their summer breeding grounds.  

For all birds, winter can be a tough time. The balance between finding enough food to survive and burning energy to search for that food can be very delicate. Any disturbance that causes them to lose feeding time or burn more energy than is absolutely necessary can tip the scales the wrong way. 

It is also worth remembering that some wading birds can only feed when the tide and weather conditions are right and some only have a few months to feed up and gain enough energy to fly thousands of miles. These precious windows of time must be free of disturbance to increase their rates of survival.