Sporting and leisure activities are common at the Northern Irish sea loughs. Human-related disturbances to foraging or resting waterbirds can come from a range of sources, from people on foot or using machines or vehicles, and from industrial or recreational activities. Such disturbances may cause birds to fly away to alternate areas or cause non-fleeing responses like increased vigilance. This pilot project builds on the findings of an analysis of within-site wintering waterbird trends, and provides a more targeted field-based study that directly assesses the potential responses of waterbirds to disturbance. A particular focus of the work is disturbance associated with intertidal aquaculture activities at sites across Northern Ireland, and the report seeks to set these in the context of disturbance events caused by other activities.

This study examines the foraging ranges of Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-backed Gulls during the breeding season to help identify and resolve potential human–wildlife conflicts.

How can emerging technologies be optimally harnessed in seabird monitoring?

This report presents results from the first year of passive acoustic monitoring as part of the pilot of the Rewilding Monitoring Framework, working with Radnorshire Wildlife Trust. These data will contribute to baselining and monitoring rewilding progress and its impact on biodiversity.

This report presents the main findings from survey work delivered using passive acoustic monitoring devices deployed across Connecting Constable and Gainsborough Country Landscape Recovery Project area.

This study uses GPS tags, fitted to adult Curlews in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, to infer nest and brood locations and breeding outcomes from movement patterns of the tagged birds.

Working with a network of volunteer fieldworkers, static acoustic bat detectors were deployed over four survey seasons (2021–2024) to provide baseline data for bats on the islands of Guernsey, Alderney, Herm, Sark, Brecqhou, Burhou, Crevichon, Jethou and Lihou. This report provides an overview of the survey coverage and main results from the project.