Little terns have been nesting at the Boyne estuary mouth for decades, possibly millennia given t... more Little terns have been nesting at the Boyne estuary mouth for decades, possibly millennia given the suitability of the habitat. • The site can produce up to 100 nesting pairs with circa 200 fledglings in optimal conditions (e.g. 2013). • The 2017 season was the worst breeding season seen at the Baltray site since the inception of the organised wardening and protection scheme in 2007 marked by the almost complete absence of courtship/display. • An exhaustive analysis of the possible causes of this eliminated factors such as weather, disturbance, predation etc and suggests that an increased dredging regimen both in time and in volume in end 2016 and through the breeding season in 2017 is a likely cause. • This finding requires further investigation as well as appropriate management of dredging operations so as not to adversely impact the favourability of the site for breeding little terns in compliance with the EU Birds and Habitat Directive and their transposition into national law. • The Appropriate Assessment (AA) undertaken in support of the dredging conditions fails to assess the impact on little terns and contains several important factual errors. • The level of dredging exceeded the level assessed in the AA.
The Eurasian Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus is adapted to feeding on hard shelled bivalves (... more The Eurasian Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus is adapted to feeding on hard shelled bivalves (e.g. common cockles Cerastoderma edule, blue mussels Mytilus edulis and clams Scrobicularia plana), gastropods (e.g. limpets Patella vulgata and periwinkle Littorina littorea) and crabs. However, it also maintains the dietary and behavioural flexibility to take advantage of a range of soft-bodied prey such as polychaetes (e.g. lugworm Arenicola marina) and oligochaetes (e.g. earthworms such as Lumbricus terrestris when feeding in fields). Both its tendency to specialise on individual prey types at specific sites and its dietary flexibility between different sites has resulted in oystercatchers being the focus of many studies on diet and foraging behaviour (e.g. Drinan 1957, Hulscher 1996). Since the 1970s, many such studies have been motivated by a need to understand the potential for negative impacts of commercial harvesting of bivalves on species such as the Eurasian Oystercatcher; esp...
Little terns have been nesting at the Boyne estuary mouth for decades, possibly millennia given t... more Little terns have been nesting at the Boyne estuary mouth for decades, possibly millennia given the suitability of the habitat. • The site can produce up to 100 nesting pairs with circa 200 fledglings in optimal conditions (e.g. 2013). • The 2017 season was the worst breeding season seen at the Baltray site since the inception of the organised wardening and protection scheme in 2007 marked by the almost complete absence of courtship/display. • An exhaustive analysis of the possible causes of this eliminated factors such as weather, disturbance, predation etc and suggests that an increased dredging regimen both in time and in volume in end 2016 and through the breeding season in 2017 is a likely cause. • This finding requires further investigation as well as appropriate management of dredging operations so as not to adversely impact the favourability of the site for breeding little terns in compliance with the EU Birds and Habitat Directive and their transposition into national law. • The Appropriate Assessment (AA) undertaken in support of the dredging conditions fails to assess the impact on little terns and contains several important factual errors. • The level of dredging exceeded the level assessed in the AA.
The Eurasian Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus is adapted to feeding on hard shelled bivalves (... more The Eurasian Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus is adapted to feeding on hard shelled bivalves (e.g. common cockles Cerastoderma edule, blue mussels Mytilus edulis and clams Scrobicularia plana), gastropods (e.g. limpets Patella vulgata and periwinkle Littorina littorea) and crabs. However, it also maintains the dietary and behavioural flexibility to take advantage of a range of soft-bodied prey such as polychaetes (e.g. lugworm Arenicola marina) and oligochaetes (e.g. earthworms such as Lumbricus terrestris when feeding in fields). Both its tendency to specialise on individual prey types at specific sites and its dietary flexibility between different sites has resulted in oystercatchers being the focus of many studies on diet and foraging behaviour (e.g. Drinan 1957, Hulscher 1996). Since the 1970s, many such studies have been motivated by a need to understand the potential for negative impacts of commercial harvesting of bivalves on species such as the Eurasian Oystercatcher; esp...
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• The site can produce up to 100 nesting pairs with circa 200 fledglings in optimal conditions (e.g. 2013).
• The 2017 season was the worst breeding season seen at the Baltray site since the inception of the organised wardening and protection scheme in 2007 marked by the almost complete absence of courtship/display.
• An exhaustive analysis of the possible causes of this eliminated factors such as weather, disturbance, predation etc and suggests that an increased dredging regimen both in time and in volume in end 2016 and through the breeding season in 2017 is a likely cause.
• This finding requires further investigation as well as appropriate management of dredging operations so as not to adversely impact the favourability of the site for breeding little terns in compliance with the EU Birds and Habitat Directive and their transposition into national law.
• The Appropriate Assessment (AA) undertaken in support of the dredging conditions fails to assess the impact on little terns and contains several important factual errors.
• The level of dredging exceeded the level assessed in the AA.
• The site can produce up to 100 nesting pairs with circa 200 fledglings in optimal conditions (e.g. 2013).
• The 2017 season was the worst breeding season seen at the Baltray site since the inception of the organised wardening and protection scheme in 2007 marked by the almost complete absence of courtship/display.
• An exhaustive analysis of the possible causes of this eliminated factors such as weather, disturbance, predation etc and suggests that an increased dredging regimen both in time and in volume in end 2016 and through the breeding season in 2017 is a likely cause.
• This finding requires further investigation as well as appropriate management of dredging operations so as not to adversely impact the favourability of the site for breeding little terns in compliance with the EU Birds and Habitat Directive and their transposition into national law.
• The Appropriate Assessment (AA) undertaken in support of the dredging conditions fails to assess the impact on little terns and contains several important factual errors.
• The level of dredging exceeded the level assessed in the AA.