Preface Due mainly to its internationally important bird populations, Poole Harbour has, over recent years, accrued various national and European statutory designations. Whilst these populations provide a relatively conspicuous testament to the harbour as a natural environment, they represent only one aspect of its significance in environmental and ecological terms. The harbour's unique combination of size, hydrological and geomorphological features provide for a rich and productive ecological community. Moreover these same features, in combination with its geographical position on the south coast of England, make it a haven for the naturalization of alien species. In this context, the harbour has been a site for some classic scientific studies, which along with various environmental assessment or monitoring projects and baseline surveys, have added considerably to our knowledge. The need to understand the harbour system, compelling as it is in purely scientific terms, is also necessary as a basis for informed management of the considerable and growing manifestations of human economic activity, and their interactions with this valuable natural resource. In this context, the editors on behalf of the Poole Harbour Study Group, have sought for the first time to collect together in book form, contributions from various researchers working on the harbour in such a way as to provide, as far as is possible, a picture of the ecology of the harbour system as a whole. As such, this book covers all the major habitats from reedbeds and saltmarshes to the extensive mudflats and the sub-littoral, while also examining in some detail a wide range of ecological phenomena and issues. Our indispensable starting point for the assembly of the book was a seminar organized by the Poole Harbour Study Group and held on 21 November 2003 at the premises of the Poole Harbour Commissioners. At this seminar, entitled 'The Changing Harbour', nine papers were presented. We are pleased and gratified that all those papers have been written up and now form chapters in this book. In addition to directly providing a substantial part of the book, the seminar had the benefit of generating sufficient interest to enable us to assemble a volume with much more comprehensive coverage than that which could be achieved at a one-day event. Therefore, this book owes its origin above all to those who organized and contributed to that conference and who are appropriately acknowledged on page vi. The Poole Harbour Study Group aims to enhance our understanding by encouraging and co-ordinating research on Poole Harbour. Our hope is that this volume, by providing a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, whole-system picture of the harbour, will help further these aims. John Humphreys EL RUOBRAIF YDUTS PUORG Vincent May March 2005 ~. viii stnemegdelwonkcA We would like to thank all those individuals who put in a considerable amount of effort and commitment on both the organization of the seminar 'The Changing Harbour', 21 November 2003, and the subsequent development and publication of this book. These individuals include members of the Poole Harbour Study Group (listed overleaf) but we should acknowledge particularly the work of Mafia Pegoraro and the Dorset Environmental Records Centre for taking much of the weight of the organization of the conference along with her colleague, Brian Edwards and Kevin Cook of Fieldwork and Ecological Surveys. Thanks also to Poole Harbour Commissioners for providing space for the conference. Books such as these are entirely dependent on the willingness of authors to submit contributions. We have been particularly fortunate in getting a group of authors whose aggregate experience and knowledge of Poole Harbour is second to none. We are above all grateful to them. All but one of the chapters have been written especially for this book. The exception is chapter 6 'History and Ecology of the Cord Grass Spartina anglica in Poole Harbour' by Alan Raybould. We are grateful to him and Judy Lindsay, Director of the Dorset County Museum for permission to reprint, in modified form, the article which was first published in the Proceedings of eht Dorset Natural History and lacigoloeahcrA ,yteicoS Volume 119. We are grateful to Infoterra, for the satellite photograph used in the Introduction. Thanks also to the University of Greenwich Marketing Office, in particular Valerie Howe, Peter Birkett and Andrew Beatson for editing, design and production. Also from the University of Greenwich, Avis Brant for a great deal of administrative support in getting the book together. The contents of a book such as this is dependent on an enormous number of individuals and organizations who have contributed in one way or another to the work that is reported in each of the chapters. Such contributions are acknowledged by individual authors as appropriate at the end of each chapter. We would like to add our own thanks to these individuals and organizations. John Humphreys Vincent May ,.;i:~~ .~:iii~i~i:ii:~. ~ e h t f o UNIVERSITY Poole Harbour Poole Harbour GREENWICH Commissioners Study Group Poole Harbour Study Group sevitcejbO The objectives of the Poole Harbour Study Group (PHSG) are to further the study of the geology, hydrology, ecology, physiography and biological communities, and the monitoring of environmental change in Poole Harbour by: (cid:12)9 establishing and maintaining a database of scientific, historical, cultural and other relevant studies of the harbour; (cid:12)9 undertaking, promoting, facilitating, co-ordinating and encouraging further studies of the harbour; (cid:12)9 establishing an archive of harbour studies and keeping this updated; (cid:12)9 facilitating the use of the database and archive by researchers, conservation bodies, statutory bodies, harbour users and others with a bona fide interest in the harbour; (cid:12)9 acting as a centre for advice and information on features of local, national and international interest within the harbour; (cid:12)9 assisting with or sponsoring meetings and publications on ecological, physiographical or biological aspects of the harbour; (cid:12)9 maintaining close links with the Poole Maritime Trust and other bodies with an interest in the harbour environment. pihsrebmeM Sue Burton English Nature Richard Caldow Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Kevin Cook (Vice Chairman) Fieldwork and Ecological Surveys John Day Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Anita Diaz Bournemouth University Peter Dyrynda University of Wales Bryan Edwards Dorset Environmental Records Centre (DERC) Neil Gartshore Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) George Green Environment Agency Geoff Hann National Trust Tegwyn Harris Hatherley Laboratories John Humphreys University of Greenwich Antony Jensen Southampton Oceanography Centre Vincent May (Chair) Bournemouth University Stephen Morrison Ecological Field Research and Estate Management Maria Pegoraro Dorset Environmental Records Centre (DERC) Angela Peters National Trust Bryan Pickess Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Eunice Pinn Joint Nature Conservation Committee Sally Porter Poole Harbour Commissioners elooP ruobraH Study puorG Helen Powell English Nature Nicole Price Environment Agency Martin Slater Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Paul St Pierre Purbeck Biodiversity Phil Sterling Environmental Services Chris Thain Dorset Wildlife Trust Peter Tinsley Dorset Wildlife Trust Jenny Waldron Poole Sarah Welton Wareham S uzy Witt Environment Agency Poole Harbour Study Group Publications Cook, .K (2001) Poole Harbour Reedbed Survey 2000. Pickess, .B and Underhill-Day, .J (2002) The Important Birds ofPoole Harbour. Edwards, .B (2004) The Vegetation of Poole Harbour. Morrison, S.J. (2004) Wader and Waterfowl Roost Survey of Poole Harbour." Winter 2002/03. Thomas, N.S., Caldow, R.W.G., McGrorty, ,.S leV dit Durell, S.E.A., West, A.D. and Stillman, R.A. (2004) Bird Invertebrate Prey Availability in Poole Harbour. Chown, D and Cook, K (2004) Important Breeding Birds of Poole Harbour. Part 1 Water Rail: Part 2 Redshank. Correspondence Dr John Day Poole Harbour Study Group Secretary Syldata Arne Wareham Dorset BH20 5BJ UK Website: www.pooleharbourstudygroup.org.uk ,~ ELO HAkBOUk STUbu ~,OUI* Contributors Sheila Anderson joined the Natural Environment Research Council as a zoologist in 1967, working mainly on coastal and marine issues. She spent 5 years working on intertidal invertebrates in UK estuaries, before joining the Sea Mammal Research Unit to do research on seals. She is now Head of Communications for NERC. Paola C. Barbuto is an Oceanographer based at Bournemouth University at the School of Conservation Sciences. She is currently conducting an ecological survey of the macro- and mesozooplankton communities in Poole Harbour, with an emphasis on commercial species. Katie Born is an Environmental Scientist at Halcrow Group Ltd and has worked predominantly on coastal and riverine flood defence schemes for two years. Prior to this, she was an ecologist at the Sheffield Wildlife Trust Fiona Bowles was the Environmental Manager for Wessex Water, co-ordinating investigations into the environmental impact of the company's operations and new developments. She has worked within the water company's environmental section since 1980 and has now left that role to manage the company's Low Flow Project. Bronwen Bruce has been working at Dorset Wildlife Trust as their Conservation Officer for Rivers and Wetlands since May 1999. She is responsible for water policy issues, wetland habitat advice and co-ordination of the Dorset Otter Group. With 65 volunteers, this is the largest Otter group in the country. Richard Caldow works as a Bird Population Ecologist for the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology at Winfrith Technology Centre. His main interest is in investigating the interactions between birds, their food supplies and the environment in which they live in order to predict how bird populations might respond to environmental change. lan Carrier has been the Clerk and Chief Fishery Officer of the Southern Sea Fisheries District for 3 years and has worked for the Committee for 31 years. A former Royal Navy Officer, he took the Queen's shilling as an Ordinary Seaman at the age of seventeen before rising through the ranks to Lieutenant Commander prior to 'retiring' in 1991. He has served as a First Lieutenant and Fishery Boarding Officer in the Fishery Protection Squadron and has also spent 3 years in Command of his own ship and squadron. He has a keen interest in all maritime and environmental matters. Chris Cesar was an Oceanography MSc student in the School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton. His research project (supervised by Antony Jensen) focused on the impact of clam fishing on the infauna of Poole Harbour xii Contributors Kevin Cook has had a long interest in Poole Harbour having lived on Brownsea Island for 61 years. He is Chairman of the Dorset Environmental Records Centre and Vice Chairman of the Poole Harbour Study Group. He works as a freelance Ecologist for his own company Fieldwork Ecological Services Ltd. Anita Diaz is a Senior Lecturer in Ecology at Bournemouth University. She has research interests in conservation biology and has a number of ongoing research projects based around Poole Harbour. These include investigation of the ecological impact of Sika Deer and examination of methods for heathland ecosystem re-creation on agricultural land. Sarah E. A. Le .V dit Durell is a Wader Population Ecologist at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Dorset, studying shorebirds and their invertebrate prey. She has been involved in several surveys of macrobenthic invertebrates in Poole Harbour. Her main contribution to these surveys is invertebrate identification and measurement. Peter Dyrynda is a Marine Biologist based at University of Wales Swansea. He has a long association with the Dorset coast, and more specifically with Poole Harbour and the Fleet Lagoon. He has undertaken many of the sub-tidal appraisal and monitoring studies undertaken in Poole Harbour over the past two decades. Bryan Edwards is the Senior Surveyor with the Dorset Environmental Records Centre where he has worked since 1991 carrying out habitat and species surveys, both in Dorset and outside the county. His main interests are botany, particularly lichens and bryophytes, and plant communities. He is co-author of The Mosses and Liverworts of Dorset. Paul English is a Senior Marine Ecologist and the manger of the marine biological laboratory at Emu Ltd, Hampshire. He is a specialist in the study of marine macrofaunal sediment communities and impact prediction. Andy Gale is Professor of Geology at the University of Greenwich, and has a lifelong interest in the geology of southern England, specializing in the stratigraphy and palaeontology of Cretaceous and Tertiary sediments. Justine Hannaford is a recent graduate from the BSc (Hons) Environmental Protection course at Bournemouth University. She carried out some of the work presented in her chapter as part of her third year project under the supervision of Anita Diaz. Craig House is a recent graduate from the BSc (Hons) Environmental Protection course at Bournemouth University. He carried out the work presented in his chapter as part of his third year project under the supervision of Anita Diaz and Vincent May. Contributors xiii John Humphreys is Pro Vice-Chancellor and Professor at the University of Greenwich. His scientific research focus is on estuarine ecology with an emphasis on invertebrate benthic populations. Antony Jensen is a senior lecturer in the School of Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton. His current research interests include artificial reefs, inshore fisheries and benthic ecology. He has served on the Southern Sea Fisheries Committee as a DEFRA appointee since 1997 and is currently Vice Chairman of the Eastern Sub- committee. Martin Jones returned to higher education after 20 years in engineering. As a lifelong resident of Poole and a regular user of the harbour, he hopes that the algal mat project will play a part in conserving the fragile ecological balance of one of the UK's finest natural harbours. Selwyn McGrorty has 35 years experience of research into the ecology and population dynamics of coastal, intertidal invertebrates around Britain and northern Europe. He is currently working at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology at Winfrith, Dorset on predictive models of shorebirds and their prey, particularly shellfish. Vincent May is Emeritus Professor of Coastal Geomorphology and Conservation at Bournemouth University, and has been investigating the harbour since the mid-1960s. He chairs the Poole Harbour Study Group and the Purbeck Heritage Committee. Linda C. Parker is an independent consultant in benthic ecology. She continues to work on the effects of pump-scoop dredging on the intertidal communities at Poole Harbour. Bryan Pickess is a Field Naturalist, who for over 30 years managed the RSPB's Arne Nature Reserve, which borders Poole Harbour. He retired in 1996 and continues to be involved with the ecology and management of lowland heath, the birds of the harbour and other wildlife conservation management matters. He is the co-author of ehT Important Birds of Poole Harbour Eunice H. Pinn is a Fisheries Advisor for the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Prior to this she was a Senior Lecturer in Coastal Zone Management at Bournemouth University. Her research has focused on factors affecting marine biodiversity including the effect of anthropogenic activities such as fishing in the marine environment and the impact of faunal bioturbation and boring activity on biodiversity and biogeochemical cycling. Helen Powell is a Conservation Officer at English Nature's Dorset Team. She is responsible for Poole Harbour Site of Special Scientific Interest and other coastal and freshwater SSSIs in south east Dorset. vix srotubirtnoC Alan Raybould studied the genetics and ecology of Spartina anglica for 61 years while working at the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology's Furzebrook Research Station (now part of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Dorset). He now works on environmental safety assessments of genetically modified crops for Syngenta. Neil Richardson joined the team of the Southern Sea Fisheries District in 2001. Most of his life has been connected with the sea. Together with his father, he was joint owner of a commercial fishing vessel for 6 years before selling up to go to university where he studied coastal zone management. During this time, he carried out a work placement aboard the Fishery Protection vessel of the South Wales Sea Fisheries Committee and on graduating in 1996, he commenced work as a Fishery Officer with them. Richard Stillman works as a Bird Population Ecologist and Modeller for the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Dorset. His main interest is to predict how bird populations are influenced by environmental change from an understanding of the foraging behaviour of the individual animals within these populations. John Underhill-Day has worked as an Ecologist and Land Manager for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds for 35 years. He has lived and worked on the edge of the harbour for 9 years and has been the Secretary of the Poole Harbour Study Group since its formation. He is co-author of ehT Important Birds ofPoole Harbour. Julian Wardlaw has been responsible for pollution prevention and response, enforcing water pollution legislation and emergency planning within and around Poole Harbour since 1980, currently with the Environment Agency. Andrew West is an Ecologist at NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Dorset. He works mainly on computer models of shorebird populations and has also taken part in intertidal surveys of a number of British estuaries. ehT ygolocE fo elooP ruobraH nhoJ syerhpmuH dna tnecniV yaM )srotide( (cid:14)9 5002 reiveslE .V.B llA sthgir .devreser Introduction: Poole Harbour in Context John Humphreys 1 and Vincent May 2 ytisrevinU1 of Greenwich, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London ES 01 SL9 loohcS2 of Conservation Sciences, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset BH12 BB5 Throughout the world, coastal ecosystems are at risk. Over half of the world's coastlines suffer from severe development pressure predicated on the growth of human populations and the increasing propensity of those populations to congregate in coastal areas. With coastal urbanization has come rapid industrial and commercial development which has put increasing pressure on coastal wetland habitats including estuaries, mudflats and saltmarshes (World Resources Institute, 1995). Although accurate figures do not exist, it is possible that half the earth's natural coastal wetlands have gone. In any event it is known that since the Second World War many millions of hectares have succumbed to urban expansion, land reclamation and drainage for agriculture among other things (Hinrichsen, 1998). Furthermore, many of those coastal ecosystems that remain suffer reduced vitality and viability as a consequence of pressures derived directly from human activity, for example, serving as ports, recreation centres, fishing grounds or receivers of effluent. Yet such coastal environments are ecologically and economically significant assets. Estuaries and saltmarshes are important in terms both of biodiversity and as highly productive natural ecosystems whose significance ranges well beyond their immediate locality. They are spawning and nursery areas for commercially harvested species of fish and provide essential seasonal feeding grounds for bird populations whose migrations range across continents. As such it is important that coastal ecosystems are well understood and sustainably managed. All of the above generalizations apply in the particular case of Poole Harbour (Figure .)1 Indeed Poole Harbour is arguably unusual in the extent to which it represents in microcosm coastal zone issues in the developed world. The contrasting and conflicting pressures on Poole Harbour are sometimes startling. For instance, the harbour entrance- no more than 370 m wide - separates on the south-west side an unspoilt protected natural environment of considerable importance (Studland) from, on the north-east side, a residential centre where property competes with Manhattan and Hong Kong island in the world-wide table of real estate values (Sandbanks), see Figures 1 and 2 (Concoran, 2000). with west and north the to development urban of Infoterra.) contrast of the Note courtesy areas. (Image east. surrounding and and south the to Harbour Poole of environments rural photograph and Satellite natural 1 Figure