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The Effect of Kite Surfing on Wader Roosts at West Kirby,

 Dee Estuary

Richard Smith

(Dee Estuary Voluntary Warden)

1. Introduction

The Dee Estuary Voluntary Wardening scheme is recognised as the longest running such project in the world and it is also the only source of long term data on the correlation between bird numbers, beach usage and disturbance⁽¹⁾. The wardens main job is to try and prevent disturbance to the main high tide wader roost at West Kirby, they also count the waders using both the roost at West Kirby and the nearby island, Little Eye (smallest of the three Hilbre Islands).

Wardening has been very effective, despite a massive increase in beach use by local people and visitors bird numbers have increased significantly over the seventeen years the scheme has operated⁽²⁾.  However, the winter of 2002/2003 has seen a new source of disturbance, Kite Surfing, which has coincided in particular with a marked reduction in two species – Redshank and Oystercatcher – as discussed below.

 2. The Dee Estuary

The Dee Estuary is one of the most important areas in western Europe for wetland birds. On a typical winter’s day it holds 110,000 waders and 20,000 wildfowl, this includes 11 species in internationally important numbers and a further eight species in nationally important numbers^(3,4). For this reason it is a site of Special Scientific Interest, a Ramsar site, a Special Protection Area under the terms of the EC Wild Birds Directive and a Natura 2000 site designated under the European Habitats directive and Birds directive.

Many of the birds travel hundreds, if not thousands, of miles before reaching the Dee Estuary. Long distance migrants can spend the winter as far as South Africa and breed in the high Arctic in the summer. The estuary provides a vital stopover for these birds, both to feed up and, just as vital, to rest. They rest, or more correctly roost, at high tide on traditional roosting sites chosen by the birds at places essentially free from disturbance. Two such places are West Kirby Shore and the nearby small island of Little Eye.

3. West Kirby Shore and Little Eye.

Since before the first days of the Birds of Estuary Enquiry (now the Wetland Bird Survey or WeBS) West Kirby and Little Eye have been renowned as major wader roosts. Although not holding quite the number of waders present in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, when as many as 100,000 or more were quite regular at West Kirby ⁽⁵⁾, we can still get up to 40,000 present – a substantial portion of the estuary’s waders. By far the most numerous species at West Kirby are Dunlin and Knot. Seven other species also occur in good numbers, including several hundred Redshank. The Redshank predominately roost off the beach at West Kirby close to the Marine Lake whilst the other species spread themselves out right across the sand bank off the marsh (see figure 1 for map of the area). The sand bank between West Kirby and around Little Eye is also an important roost for gulls and terns, especially during July and August. Typically we get several thousand gulls and several hundred terns⁽¹⁾.

Any book about birds published in the 1970’s almost inevitably included a photograph of waders on Little Eye taken by the famous bird photographer, Eric Hosking. In those days large numbers of Knot roosted on Little Eye, now Curlew and in particularly Oystercatchers are the main species. Several hundred Curlew and several thousand Oystercatchers are regularly counted. Other species using Little Eye include 10 to 40 Brent Geese, several hundred Shelduck and up to 50 Cormorants. Little Eye is part of the Hilbre Island Local Nature Reserve.  

4. Kite Surfing

Kite surfing is relatively new to this country and described as an ‘extreme 3D water sport’⁽⁶⁾. Extreme, as it is considered to be more dangerous and exciting than other water sports such as wind surfing and water skiing. The surfer stands on a board very similar to one used by a wind surfer and is pulled along by a kite. The kite is generally 5 square metres or more and between 20 and 40 metres in the air, depending on the wind conditions and the expertise of the surfer.

It is only since the summer of 2002 that kite surfers have been using West Kirby. Since then up to twelve have been seen regularly on every high tide when wind conditions are right, i.e. any winds between 2 and 20 knots. The shore at West Kirby is particularly acceptable to their needs as at high tide there is a large area of shallow water sheltered from the relatively large waves of the Irish Sea by the Hilbre Islands.

5. Kite Surfing – potential sources of bird disturbance

(a) The large kite 30 metres or so in the air can be seen from a good distance, much further, for instance, than a wind surfer. We cannot know exactly how the birds perceive these kites but it is certainly possible that a large flying wing like object will be seen as a potential huge bird of prey.

(b) The kite flies at an angle to the surfer, in a fresh wind quite an acute one. This means that at times the surfer himself may well  be some distance away from roosting birds but the kite is blown much closer.

(c) Although kite surfers can go up wind they have far less control as to their direction than, for example, a wind surfer or sailing dinghy. They also tend to step off their boards in shallow water when changing direction. Both of these mean that they are often either blown,  or deliberately choose to come, inshore. This can bring them close to the roosts at West Kirby and Little Eye, often within the buoyed area (see map, figure 1).

(d) Sometimes when the surfer looses control of the kite it hits the water with considerable force, resulting in a loud bang - an obvious source of disturbance.

It should be noted that remarks like ‘less control’ and ‘losing control’ in the above section have been made from personal observation! Kite Surfing is a difficult sport to master⁽⁷⁾ and with this long learning curve will always have a large proportion of beginners, especially so as it is a relatively new sport. Presumably the more experienced surfers have more control over their boards and kites.

6. The 2002/2003 Wardening Season

The voluntary wardens were on West Kirby beach at every daylight high tide over 8.7 metres from 20^th September 2002 to 23^rd March 2003, a total of 91 visits. Nine species of waders were monitored and a summary is shown in table 1, together with equivalent figures for the previous winter.

Table 1 – Maximum and Average Counts on West Kirby Shore

(plus Oystercatchers on Little Eye).

Two of the most numerous species at West Kirby have always been Knot and Dunlin. Data going back 17 years clearly show numbers for these species tend to be cyclic. We are currently at a low point on this cycle so it was no surprise that  the figures were relatively low for both winters. However the wardens were surprised at the marked reduction of Oystercatchers on Little Eye (2002/2003 figures 43% of 2001/2002) and Redshank at West Kirby (2002/2003 figures 14% of 2001/2002). Figure 2 for Oystercatchers and Figure 3 for Redshank illustrate graphically the difference between the two seasons. Both these species were relatively consistent in numbers over the previous 16 years⁽⁸⁾.

6.1 Oystercatchers

Little Eye is a high tide roost for Oystercatchers, their main feeding area is south of the island on the mud banks off West Kirby, Caldy and Thurstaston. As the tide comes in they tend to move off the mud banks fairly early and have a pre-high tide roost on the sand bank just to the south and east of Little Eye. It was noted by the wardens that the kite surfers often came down well before high tide and would walk out towards Little Eye from West Kirby to meet the incoming tide. It seemed to be common practice for the surfers to fly their kites whilst waiting for the tide, very close to the traditional pre-high tide Oystercatcher roost. It is thus probable that the birds were being scared away from Little Eye before the tide came in, and before the wardening period began. This would explain the reduction in Oystercatcher numbers, despite only four actual instances of disturbance by Kite Surfers at Little Eye recorded by the wardens in the 2002/2003 season. Figure 4 is a graph showing the difference in Oystercatcher numbers on Little Eye when Kite Surfers where, and where not, present. Two things stand out:

1. There are noticeable less Oystercatchers present when Kite Surfers were sailing. The average number was 1,065 with no Kite Surfers, and 445 when they were present.

2. Numbers of Oystercatchers reduced dramatically from December onwards, whether Kite Surfers were present or not (see figure 2 for comparison with previous season).  One possible explanation for this is that the birds had been disturbed so often from Little Eye early in the winter that they had deserted the island for other roosts elsewhere, even when the original source of disturbance was not present.

6.2  Redshanks

It is not surprising that Redshank numbers were dramatically down as their favourite roosting area, just off West Kirby beach, is also the area where the Kite Surfers launch. Again the number of disturbances by Kite Surfers on West Kirby shore recorded by the wardens is not great, just seven. But as with Oystercatchers it is very likely that the disturbance is taking place before the tide comes, when the Kite Surfers first set up on the beach and before the wardening period starts.

6.3 Other Species

As has already been said above we are currently on a low point of a cycle for Dunlin and Knot numbers, the most numerous species at West Kirby. For the same reason numbers were also low last year so there is certainly no evidence that Kite Surfers have been responsible for a reduction for these, or indeed, the other species not already mentioned. There were seven recorded disturbances by Kite Surfers at West Kirby, just over 10% of the total. But it should be recognised that all disturbances are recorded, however minor or major. A Kite Surfer who chooses to sail along the edge of the sand bank between West Kirby and Red Rocks and back is very likely to clear the whole roost.

Contrast this with the much smaller profile of a Wind Surfer doing the same thing, or indeed a walker who disturbs a few waders at the edge of the flock before intervention by one of the wardens. The potential for disturbance of all the waders, gulls and terns at West Kirby and Little Eye by Kite Surfers is great. One can certainly foresee that without control the presence of Kite Surfers could result in an almost complete desertion of West Kirby and Little Eye by the birds.  

6.4  Hilbre Bird Observatory

It was not just the Dee Estuary Voluntary Wardens who observed the disturbance on Little Eye. The Hilbre Bird Observatory log book regularly had reports of disturbance by Kite Surfers over the winter of 2002/2003 with comments such as ‘Kite Surfers are all around Little Eye again, all birds disturbed from roost!!’ ⁽⁹⁾.

7. Ways of Reducing Disturbance

Given the high natural history value of the area, especially it’s estuarine birds, the question has to be asked - is it appropriate for a sport such as Kite Surfing to take place at West Kirby?  Certainly a close season of September to March should seriously be considered.

But on the assumption that the Kite Surfers continue the best way of reducing disturbance would be to restrict the area within which they can surf. One possibility would be to restrict them to the area SW of a line drawn from the north end of the Marine Lake. In effect they would be surfing between the Marine Lake and Tanskey Rocks (see figure 1). This would keep them away from the all the main wader roosts but would still give them a large area of shallow water within which they can partake of their sport.   

Before this takes place we need to set up some kind of dialog with the surfers. This has already been started by the wardens talking to them on the beach and also by issuing a leaflet asking them to keep clear of the birds. Unfortunately this has only had limited success as once the surfers have launched we are unable to have any contact with them.    

 8. Summary and Conclusions

The arrival of  Kite Surfers at West Kirby has coincided with a significant drop in the number of roosting Oystercatchers and Redshank.

The internationally renowned roost on Little Eye has been frequently disturbed, often resulting in complete desertion of this island by the birds.

Kite Surfers are a major source of bird disturbance and have the potential to become an even greater one.

Restriction of the area within which the Kite Surfers operate must be seriously considered to avoid destroying the important Wader, Tern and Gull roosts.

A close season between September to March should be considered.

9. References

1. Butterworth, C. (Ed.), Dee Estuary Voluntary Wardens Second Annual Bird and 

    Wildlife Report, 2001, DEVW.

2. Leeming, K., Wardening Waders, CAWOS Bird News 44, October 1999, 11-12.

3. Cranswick, P. et al, The Wetland Bird Survey - Wildfowl and Wader Counts, 1995-1996 to 1999-2000. BTO/WWT/RSPB/JNCC.

4. Friswell, N. and Wells, C. (ed.), Dee Estuary WeBS Annual Report 2001/2002.

5. Cheshire Bird Reports, 1964 to 1974.

6. British Kite Surfing Association Official Website – www.kitesurfing.org.

7. Kite Surfing School Website – www.kitesurfingschool.org.

8. Dee Estuary Voluntary Wardens, unpublished data 1986/1987 to 2001/2002.

9. Hilbre Bird Observatory Log Book (2002/2003).

For copies of this report in MS Word format (including full appendix detailing data from which figures 2 to 4 were drawn from) please  the author, Richard Smith.

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