Additional Surveys
I-WeBS focuses on covering the larger more important coastal estuaries and bays, and inland lakes, rivers and callows. However, it does not include some habitats which are used by large numbers of some wintering species. These include:
- Non-wetland habitat (farmland etc.) used by feeding or roosting waterbirds, particularly swans and geese and other species that occur in high densities, namely Golden Plover, Lapwing and Curlew.
- Large tracts of coastline, which have been shown to support significant proportions of several wader and gull species.
- Small and ephemeral wetlands, which are widespread, and regularly support Little Grebe and several duck species, particularly Mallard and Teal.
- Open sea, used by divers, grebes, seaducks and gulls). Counts of these species are often constrained by long range, sea-state and viewing conditions.
Therefore, a number of additional surveys are conducted, which usually coincide with international surveys for these species. These include:
- The International Whooper and Bewick’s Swan Census – organised at approximately 5-year intervals. It takes place over one weekend in January and is fully co-ordinated throughout the species’ range. The next census will take place this coming January, 2010. Click here for more details.
- Greenland White-fronted Geese are censused in Scotland and Ireland every autumn and spring each season. This is coordinated by the Greenland White-fronted Goose Study Group. Please click here for the latest results.
- Greenland Barnacle Geese are censused every five seasons in Scotland and Ireland. This is coordinated by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The last census was in March 2008. Please click here to see the results.
- Light-bellied Brent Goose Census – the Irish Brent Goose Research Group organises a Light-bellied Brent Goose census, which takes place twice each winter, in October and January.
- Icelandic-breeding Greylag Goose Census – this survey takes place each November at the main feeding sites in Ireland. It is carried out throughout the species’ range, in Britain and Ireland. Click here for further details. Additionally, a comprehensive special survey of this species took place during winter 2007/08 season and autumn 2008. Click here for details.
- Golden Plover - In October 2003, a census of Golden Plover was carried out throughout Europe. This fully coordinated census was carried out again in 2008, on the weekend of the 18th & 19th October.
- Non-estuarine Coastal Waterbird Survey (NEWS) – The first comprehensive survey of the waterbirds using non-estuarine coast was carried out in 1997/98. An update survey took place in 2006/07.