Managing coastal grazing marshes for breeding waders and over wintering geese: Is there a conflict?

• Published in: Biological conservation 1997, Vol.79 (1), p.23-34
• Main Authors: Vickery, J.A., Sutherland, W.J., O'Brien, M., Watkinson, A.R., Yallop, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: geese; management; vegetation height; waders; water table
• ISSN: 0006-3207; 1873-2917
• DOI: 10.1016/S0006-3207(96)00111-5

The winter grazing intensities of brent geese Branta bernicla, pink-footed geese Anser brachyrhynchus, and white-fronted geese A. albifrons, and the breeding densities of lapwing Vanellus vanellus, redshank Tringa totanus and snipe Gallinago gallinago, were related to the environmental characteristics of 81 fields within an area of coastal grazing marshes on the north Norfolk coast. Those fields grazed most intensively by geese in the winter supported lower densities of breeding waders in the summer than fields that were rarely grazed by geese. Lapwing, redshank and snipe all tended to occur in higher breeding densities on the wettest fields (characterised by large areas of surface water and Juncus spp., high soil moisture content and high water levels in field drains and adjacent ditches) and where vegetation was short (6–14 cm) in late March. The highest grazing intensities of geese were recorded on fields close to the roost sites with brent and grey geese rarely using fields at distances of greater than 5 km and 8 km from their respective roosts. The two species of grey geese tended to use those fields that were drier and located at greater distances from sources of disturbance with slightly longer (though still relatively short) swards than those used by brent geese. In a subset of the fields close to the roost site, brent geese used fields more intensively if they had been heavily grazed by livestock, had a short sward in October and if the soil was relatively impenetrable. The results suggest that waders, brent geese and, to a lesser extent, grey geese select areas of grassland with short vegetation, but that the former favour areas where the water table is higher than in those areas favoured by geese. It is suggested that this potential conflict may be relatively easily resolved either by temporal differences in management regimes, whereby water levels are raised in spring and summer and lowered in winter, or spatial differences in which some fields are managed for geese, preferably those close to the roost, and others for waders.