If you take to the waters of Chichester Harbour in the summer, you can help our coastal birds breed successfully for future generations…
Each year, coastal birds including Little Terns, Oystercatchers and Ringed Plover attempt to nest on Chichester Harbour’s shingle spits and islands. There are very few places around the harbour that are free of disturbance or predators, and numbers of breeding coastal birds have declined drastically over recent years.
Stakes Island and Pilsey Island are really important sites for nesting birds, but they are easily disturbed and scared by people in sailing boats, motor boats and paddle craft getting too close, or even landing. When these birds are sitting on eggs, they will fly off and the eggs may chill to the point the chicks never hatch. And when the chicks have hatched they are even more vulnerable to disturbance.
What can you do to help?
Here’s where you come in… By keeping 100m away from the shore and avoiding landing on Stakes Island, Pilsey Island and other shingle islands and spits you can give our coastal birds the best chances of nesting success and long-term survival. Take a look at the map below to see the areas to avoid:
The wildlife and nature of Chichester Harbour make being on the water a joy, together we can protect it for future generations.