Non-Estuarine Waterbird Survey III

The United Kingdom is internationally important for its numbers of wintering waterbirds, and many of these are monitored annually by the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) counts. However, the WeBS counts are mostly made on estuaries and inland waterbodies, therefore leaving the majority of the coastline uncounted. The 2015/16 Non-Estuarine Waterbird Survey (NEWS) will focus coverage on these important and under-recorded habitats.


 It is known that important populations of several species such as Purple Sandpipers and Turnstone occur around our shores outside of estuaries, and consequently are not monitored annually.  Following the original Winter Shorebird Count carried out in 1985 and NEWS counts in 1997/98 and 2006/07, the third repeat of NEWS will be carried out this coming winter.

The non-estuarine coastline is broken up into count sectors approximately 2km long, though some are shorter and some longer.  There are 10 priority sections which have been selected at random in each region.  These priority sections will be allocated first and then the others will be available for allocation.  The survey runs from 1^st December 2015 to 31^st January 2016 and just a single count is needed, with all birds and mammals using the section recorded.

How to take part

• The survey will be carried out in conjunction with the Wetland Bird Survey, so if you are an existing WeBS Counter who uses WeBS Online, the NEWS options to select sectors will automatically appear on your WeBS Data Home page. 
• If you are not a WeBS Counter but you have taken part in one of the BTO's online surveys (BBS, Atlas, BirdTrack etc) then please visit Survey Home where you will find a NEWS bar in your list of available surveys.  Click on the word "Setup" to gain access to the online interface to be able to request your sectors and input your counts.
• If you have not used WeBS Online before or do not have a BTO username you will need to register for an online username and password, then please visit Survey Home to see the NEWS bar.  Click on the word "Setup" to gain access to the online interface to be able to select your sectors and input your counts.
• You can request any sector to count, though we do ask that if possible you choose one of the priority sections.

Further details from your WSeBS organiser or Kelvin at BTO Cymru.