13/8/2025

The Gravelly Shores Project: Building a beach for birds

By Mike Short, Head of Predation Management Research and Project Manager

Gravelly ShoresThanks to two years of funding through Natural England’s excellent Species Recovery Programme, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust has helped create a safer haven for beach-nesting birds on the North Solent National Nature Reserve in Hampshire. Our Gravelly Shores Project was born in 2023, and with Beaulieu Estate and the NNR reserve management team as project partners, together we’ve transformed a 1.7ha area of scrub-grassland into an open expanse of coastal vegetated shingle and this tailor-made ‘hotel for birds’ opened for business in March this year.

Judging by the numerous pairs of ringed plover, oystercatcher, little ringed plover and lapwing that nested on our new habitat this season, many of which fledged chicks, I think it’s fair to say this pioneering project has been a triumph, and we hope that in future years we’ll attract common terns and little terns to breed here too.

Oystercatcher on nestAn oystercatcher incubates a nest made on the new shingle habitat. The electrified fence can be seen behind.

This gem of a reserve supports nationally important breeding aggregations of ringed plover and oystercatcher, which are also ‘designated features’ of the North Solent SSSI. Through our wader nest camera research we had previously recorded catastrophic losses of their nests to predators – mainly foxes, carrion crows and lesser black-backed gulls – and a contributory factor to the heavy losses was undoubtedly the high density of breeding pairs occupying a 2km long shingle spit, slowly being lost to the tide.

Coastal spitThe coastal spit on the North Solent NNR is a critical breeding site for shorebirds but it is rapidly being lost to dynamic coastal processes largely driven by climate change.

Sea-level rise, coastal erosion and more frequent storm surges are devouring this linear shoreline, which is also ‘protected’ by a seasonally enforced Bird Sanctuary Order: the lack of human disturbance, coupled with a general paucity of suitable shingle nesting areas elsewhere in the Solent, encourages shingle-nesters to breed, but it remains a high-risk environment. When nesting birds aggregate in spatially restricted habitats like this, so predator impacts can be greater, as they can locate nests more efficiently, especially at high tide.

This case serves as an important reminder that although human disturbance can be a problem for ground-nesting birds, fundamentally it is predators that cause breeding failure by taking eggs and chicks. Reducing predation risk is therefore a critical component of population recovery. Experience tells us that this will necessitate a combination of lethal and non-lethal predation control methods, a topic that I will cover in a follow-on Gravelly Shores blog.

Before viewThe project site was formerly acid grassland with gorse and bramble and grazed by ponies.

Our Gravelly Shores vision was to create a more climatically resilient stable shingle-nesting area using marine aggregates dredged from the Solent. To coax birds to nest here, this habitat had to be adjacent and functionally linked to the spit; and to the surrounding shoreline and saltmarsh environment which provides invertebrate-rich chick-rearing habitat. The shingle is encircled with an eight-strand electrified predator exclusion fence to help deter foxes and badgers, and to prevent nest interference and nest trampling by free-roaming ponies.

Drone viewAs it was being constructed the project site was split into various treatments to determine the best way of establishing shingle beaches above the intertidal zone. 10m square plots were incorporated to learn if beach-nesting birds favour particular substrates.

To our knowledge no one has ever constructed such a large shingle beach-nesting area for birds on what was effectively ‘farmland’, so we saw this as a golden opportunity to learn how to do this effectively and cost efficiently, to generate a blueprint for others to follow. To establish and maintain large open areas of shingle attractive to nesting shorebirds – especially terns – it is important to consider how best to manage vegetation that naturally colonises shingle.

Hence, we split the project site into different vegetation management treatments, which included plots with and without turf removal, herbicide use and with different depths of dredged sea ballast that we hypothesised might serve as a mulch to help suppress underlying vegetation. We also wanted to know if shingle-nesting birds preferentially select a particular type of substrate for nest-scraping, so we included 10m square plots top-dressed with one of five different types of marine substrate, which included cockleshells.

Drone viewIn year one, we saw a clear distinction in the vegetation community between treatment plots.

Already, we have seen stark differences in the extent of favourable and unfavourable vegetation across the various treatment areas. We will continue to monitor and manage plant life across the site and are encouraged that maritime species like yellow horned-poppy has already colonised.

An output of our project will be publication of a management guide on how to create shingle habitats for birds above the intertidal zone. Gravelly Shores has set a precedent; it will serve as a demonstration site for coastal wildlife managers to visit, and provide Natural England with further advice on how to deliver habitats to conserve beach-nesting birds.

Aerial viewThe 1.7ha area of electric-fenced shingle habitat that we constructed (in the foreground) provides a safer and more climatically resilient nesting habitat for shorebirds.

Delivering a project of this nature and magnitude in a relatively short-space of time, required prioritisation of bird species of high conservation concern, over other habitats on this SSSI. Negotiations to get the greenlight to alter the existing landscape proved challenging, but we got there in the end and all credit to Natural England for letting our vision become a reality.

Ringed plover and chickGravelly Shores aimed to provide more resilient breeding habitat for ringed plovers and other beach-nesters. A follow-up blog will describe ancillary trials of non-lethal nest protection measures for ringed plovers and oystercatcher.

Currently, there are estimated to be fewer than 1,700 breeding pairs of ringed plover left in England. These delightful, charismatic beach-dwellers are red listed and their rapid demise is linked to on-going human impacts on the environment. Climate change, coastal squeeze and far too much anthropogenic food, which benefits common predators like foxes, carrion crows and gulls, are pushing ringed plovers and many other beach-nesters to the brink.

If we stand any chance of retaining biodiversity we must think big and outside the existing box, educate the masses and policy makers, and accept that controversial decision making at every level will be a necessary facet of achieving sustainable species recovery.

Comments

gravely shores

at 14:55 on 22/08/2025 by Chris Kelly Preston & District Wildfowlers Association

here on the Ribble Estuary, as part of the Hutton Marsh Improvement Scheme, we have constructed a gravelly beach along the side of 1. of the lagoons, in an area of reclaimed salt marsh. Already we have had success with, little ringed plover. redshank and oystercatchers nesting on this beach. Only a Small area 120 metres x 15 meters. But if that opportunity is there, the birds will try to nest. Every small effort adds to the greater result. Gravelly Beach number 2. constructed this week. Fingers crossed.(wildfowlers working for conservation).

fantastic job!

at 22:29 on 20/08/2025 by James Bunker

G'day, I live on south Bruny Isand, off Tasmania, off the bottom of Australia. I am involved with shore nesting bird protection and am heartened to read of such a successful large scale program with so many moving parts come to fruition. Well done, congratulations to all of you. You've set an awesome precedent and I look forward to seeing how it goes into the future. We'll done! James

Gravelly Shores

at 16:35 on 19/08/2025 by Keith Cowieson

Superb initiative!

Gravelly Shores

at 15:31 on 19/08/2025 by Charles Bryant

what an excellent project and relatively starightforward to create I remember the excellent nesting area of the raised beaches of Jura which consist of large rounded pebbles that were ideal for nesting birds. Of cause their main predator were Skewers; but at least the well camouflaged chicks could hide between the larges stones.

Gravelly shores

at 13:53 on 19/08/2025 by Roger Baxandall

Sounds good to me.

Bird conservation

at 13:52 on 19/08/2025 by Dave Nugent

It would be great to have the same as the gravelly shore project at west wittering

Wildlife projects

at 13:40 on 19/08/2025 by David green

A well managed project with great ongoing results. I hope the RSPB takes note of such projects.

brilliant habitat !

at 13:37 on 19/08/2025 by Rob Yorke

And I very much look forward to being the auctioneer for this Lot at the Wildlife Conservation Science auction in London on the 15th Sept 2025 https://uk2.emma-live.com/SS25/auction/items/1000030896?auction_type=live_auction_itemYN best wishes Rob

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