Bird Aware Solent 11th Annual Report
Download a printable version of the Bird Aware Solent Annual Report 2025 here.
1. Introduction
1.1. The Solent coast stretches from near Lymington to West Wittering and includes the northern shore of the Isle of Wight from near Colwell to Whitecliffe Bay near Bembridge. It is internationally important for birds, with 125,000 waders and over 10 per cent of the global population of dark-bellied brent geese. Many of these birds travel thousands of miles to spend the winter here. Little terns, which fly here to breed from West Africa in the spring, are the UK’s second rarest breeding seabirds. Three Special Protection Areas (SPAs) were designated on the Solent to protect these waders and wildfowl.
1.2. A substantial amount of housebuilding is planned around the Solent and research shows that this new housing is likely to have potential impacts on the SPAs. One of these potential impacts is increased recreational activity at the coast resulting from population increases associated with the new homes. Increased recreational activity is likely to lead to increased disturbance to the birds within the SPAs. Such disturbance interrupts their feeding, which can mean they have insufficient energy to survive the winter and complete their migratory journey back to their summer-time breeding habitats. Disturbance can also negatively impact the success of breeding seasons. Both of these instances lead to a reduction in the bird population.
1.3. Bird Aware Solent (previously known as the Solent Recreation Mitigation Partnership) aims to prevent the additional recreational activity from harming the birds. In 2014, it began operating under an Interim Strategy, but in December 2017, the longer term, more comprehensive Strategy was endorsed by the then Partnership for Urban South Hampshire and was subsequently approved by each local planning authority as a basis for seeking financial contributions to mitigate the impact of housebuilding on the coastline. The new charging rate associated with this long-term Strategy came into effect on 1st April 2018.
1.4. This Strategy was originally set to run until 2034 but has now been revised and extended to cover the period until 2050, it also includes an in-perpetuity element which will enable mitigation to continue until 2130 (was previously 2114).
1.5. This is the eleventh annual report on implementation of the Partnership’s work. It describes the progress made during the year 2024/25 and sets out the Partnership’s plans for the year 2025/26.
1.6. During this reporting period, work concluded on the formal review of the Bird Aware Strategy, with the revised version being approved by the Partnership for South Hampshire on the 30th September 2024, then subsequently approved by each of the individual Local Planning Authorities before the end of the financial year. The Revised Strategy will come into operation from 1st April 2025 and has a wider scope in that it will now provide mitigation from recreational disturbance to breeding SPA birds.
1.7. The Bird Aware team will grow from 10 to 19 under the Revised Strategy and resources have been reprioritised to place a greater emphasis on dog initiatives, communications and monitoring work. The Partnership maintains its commitment to regular reporting and external monitoring and it still receives governance from the Partnership for South Hampshire.
1.8. Owing to the extended timeframe of the Revised Strategy, coupled with an increase in expected housing delivery, the Partnership has been able to design the Revised Strategy such that it does not necessitate an increase in the level of developer contributions.
1.9. With the benefit of insights from data presented by the Monitoring Officer, our approach to engagement was overhauled this year. The team have been able to place a greater emphasis on ‘best use of Ranger time’ and ‘quality of engagement’ when allocating staff time. This is moving us closer to achieving the priorities within the Revised Strategy and also reflects our experience of the limitations and realities of operating during the winter months (e.g. poor weather conditions discouraging people from having longer/more impactful conversations with Rangers) and resourcing levels.
1.10. After much collaborative work, sharing of experience gained throughout the last eight years of operation and interrogation of the monitoring date, the new engagement plan now focuses on quality of engagement, rather than quantity. It has been trialled through this reporting period and early monitoring data is showing very positive results from this new approach.
1.11. During this past year, one new post was created within the Partnership, namely the Team Manager role. This new post is the first of the 9 identified as necessary during the resource planning stages of the Revised Strategy work and serves to provide a link between overseeing the day-to-day management of the Ranger Team, whilst also supporting the Partnership Manager with more strategic tasks.
1.12. A ‘Watersports with Wildlife’ guide has been expanded this year, and has proven a popular resource on the website. During this reporting period it was extended to cover the whole of the mainland part of our operational area, with work undertaken to research the Isle of Wight area for launching in the next reporting period.
1.13. Coast and Country Canines has been offering an expanding range of practical support to the dog walking community this year, with initiatives such as ‘waggy walks’ (nature friendly guided walks which include both the dogs and owners), promoted walking routes and training guides all proving to be very popular. The Team have been promoting a dog walking survey which they are carrying out with the aim being to have a greater insight into how best to meet the needs of dog owners going forward.
1.14. The Partnership comprises the fifteen Solent local planning authorities, Natural England, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, and Chichester Harbour Conservancy. The authorities are: Chichester District Council, East Hampshire District Council, Eastleigh Borough Council, Fareham Borough Council, Gosport Borough Council, Hampshire County Council, Havant Borough Council, Isle of Wight Council, New Forest District Council, New Forest National Park Authority, Portsmouth City Council, Southampton City Council, South Downs National Park Authority, Test Valley Borough Council, Winchester City Council.
1.15. Political governance is provided by the Joint Committee of the Partnership for South Hampshire (PfSH) with the involvement of the representatives of the non-PfSH authorities (Chichester District Council, New Forest and South Downs National Park Authorities and Isle of Wight Council). The PfSH Joint Committee approved the 2024/25 budget at its 14th March 2024 meeting.
1.16. More information about the mitigation strategy and the Partnership can be seen at: www.birdaware.org.
2. Progress during 2024/25
Overview
2.1. Completion of the work revising the Strategy largely shaped the first half of this reporting period. The second half of this reporting period was used to get the Revised Strategy approved by each of the Local Planning Authorities, notify stakeholders about the changes and start preparing to operate under it in the next reporting period.
2.2. Alongside this, the Rangers have continued to deliver specialist roles coupled with their shared engagement responsibilities and developing their local expertise. The spread of specialist roles, allows us to maintain our oversight of sites, support dog walkers, place greater emphasis on the creation of wildlife aware guides (for specific coastal user groups), develop our approach to education provision and extend our ability to create fresh content for use within a variety of engagement approaches.
2.3. The staff responsible for these areas of work continue to deliver then alongside their scheduled site visits and events where they engage with members of the public to encourage behaviour changes which will benefit the protected coastal birds. This year, the team carried out a whole range of engagement activities which were largely very well received by the public.
2.4. Appointing the Team Manager post was beneficial to the operation of the Partnership as this role provides both operational support and guidance to the Ranger Team with strategic support to the Partnership Manager. This post holder has taken a key role in resource planning and leading on the preparation work for further recruitment.
2.5. The growing experience within the team has seen them continue to widen the scope of work they are undertaking and the audiences they are reaching. The education programme has been launched in this reporting period and feedback from presentations to schools has been extremely positive, with repeat bookings already being requested.
2.6. Close working with Partners and Stakeholders has continued and their involvement in shaping our response to providing mitigation for breeding SPA birds has been invaluable.
2.7. For the 6th consecutive year, the Team ran the citizen science initiative, ‘The Great Coastal Bird Watch’. This event has benefitted from a national roll out of what was originally our local initiative, and is a great achievement, showing how Bird Aware is operating as a leader within the context of mitigation partnerships. Changes were made to the way participants could share their findings this year, simplifying the process and resulting in a higher level of responses.
2.8. This year we hosted our second ‘Bird Aware Arts Fest’ which proved to be hugely popular and an innovative way to attract new audiences to hear our messages whilst creating unique pieces of art. There was also a photography competition launched this year which received a host of excellent quality entries from a wide range of applicants. Plans are to hold an exhibition of these later in the year, and repeat the competition next year.
2.9. Bespoke signage continues to be installed at key sites throughout our operational area. As with all previous seasons, rangers have put up seasonally specific signage in clip frames and plaques fixed to fingerposts and leaflet boxes in key coastal locations.
2.10. During this reporting period, much work has been undertaken to expand our financial model, to ensure that we remain fit for purpose throughout the entire delivery period of the Revised Strategy. This work relied upon inputs from predicted housing levels and specialist skills within the Project Board team were utilised to ensure that these were calculated using best available information. This supports the overall confidence level in the model and aids our planning work.
2.11. The Partnership’s expenditure during the year is set out in Appendix 1.
Strategy Review
2.12. The first half of the reporting period was dominated by the completion of the Strategy Review, alongside maintaining responsibility for undertaking our normal workload. The team worked closely with the Project Board to create the Revised Strategy and it marks an important point in our development. It draws upon our operational experience from the last 8 year coupled with the learning and insights gained from the independent review into the first five years of our operation and lays out our intentions for the future.
2.13.Some of the substantive changes to the Strategy moving forward are:
- The duration of the Strategy has been extended from 2034 to 2050, with the in-perpetuity period now running until 2130 (was previously 2114). This is in response to requests from the PfSH Planning Officers Group, and allows the Strategy to support emerging Local Plans which have dates beyond 2034.
- Based upon this extended operating period, the number of predicted dwellings has been remodelled. This requires the Revised Strategy to be capable of providing mitigation for around 5,700 per annum, where previously it had been meeting the needs of closer to 2,500 per annum. This means that over the lifetime of the Strategy, it is predicted to mitigate for just over 147,000 new dwellings.
- The Strategy has been extended to provide a proportional response to meet the needs of breeding birds, by supporting the work of organisations already active in that area of work. This means that Rangers will provide an element of site visits for the entire year, not just the winter period as has been the case to date.
- The core team of dedicated staff will be increased from 10 to 19. This is in response to the warnings related to low staffing numbers in the independent review, and allows for the additional workload associated with breeding bird mitigation to be adequately accommodated.
- Increased resources allocated to our dog initiative ‘Coast and Country Canines’ (3 of the additional staff members and a £20k uplift to the annual budget) based on the success of this initiative so far and an ongoing awareness that this user group remains a key target audience for the Partnerships to work with.
- Increased resources allocated to communications and engagement workstreams (2 of the additional staff members and a £20k uplift to the annual budget) in recognition of the role this work plays in reaching our audiences and amplifying our message in all interactions.
- Increased resources allocated to monitoring (1 of the additional staff members) to ensure that the resources are allocated as efficiently as possible and to make sure that changes in coastal use patterns are quickly identified and appropriately responded to.
2.14. To undertake all of the above, we have broken down the workload into the following mitigation delivery strands, which have different goals and work packages attached to each of them:
- Governance
- Monitoring
- Collaboration
- Engagement
- Site-based Investment
2.15. The Partnership for South Hampshire will continue to provide governance to Bird Aware and the commitment to regularly report to them remains as strong as ever.
2.16. Bird Aware staff are looking forward to operating under the Revised Strategy, expanding the Team and scope of work to provide mitigation for breeding SPA birds.
2.17. We remain grateful to all Partners for their input into the Revised Strategy, with special thanks to Natural England for their advice, support and guidance whilst we undertook this task.
Financial Review
2.18. The Strategy Review was accompanied by a full Financial Review. This work considered the extended timeline for the operation of the Strategy, the expected rise in dwelling numbers coming forward and predicted future costs, including those associated with expanding the team and resources available to them.
2.19. The Partnership sought to take a prudent approach to various modelling parameters, such as interest and inflation rates, so that the resulting model is as robust as it can be for such an extensive timeline. There remains an ongoing commitment to review it regularly to ensure it remains fit for purpose over the lifetime of the Partnership.
2.20. The results of the financial model indicated that there is no need to amend the existing payment structure, with no need to alter prices outside of the established annual inflationary rise.
2.21. Furthermore, where breeding birds are only listed in the citation of 2 of the 3 SPAs (Chichester and Langstone Harbour and Southampton and Solent Water), when the 5.6km zone of influence was mapped for these 2 areas, it was found to be fractionally smaller than the zone of influence for overwintering SPA birds. Dwellings proposed within the area only covered by overwintering birds will be able to pay a modestly reduced developer contribution under the Revised Strategy, to reflect that they do not need to contribute to mitigation measures designed to support breeding birds. In reality, this amounts to less than 1% of all projected housing, but it has still been taken into consideration for the purpose of modelling and charging.
Summer/Breeding Birds
2.22. Throughout the previous reporting period, PfSH commissioned a review of the likely impacts on breeding birds around the Solent from increasing recreational disturbance from new housing. This study, undertaken by Footprint Ecology, reasoned that ‘While unable to prejudge any specific HRA or set of circumstances, we would anticipate it will be difficult to rule out adverse effects on integrity without adequate protective measures (i.e. mitigation) being secured. The next step resulting from this report is therefore to consider what mitigation might be necessary and how it could be implemented.’
2.23. Natural England and the Bird Aware Partnership acknowledged the findings of this report and that the evidence base has changed over time. The Partnership then considered this updated evidence within the revised Strategy and applied new measures as a proportional response to issues it raised. This prompted the Partnership to review what approach Bird Aware should undertake if the scope of the Partnership was extended as part of the review work, to include breeding SPA birds.
2.24. With an awareness that breeding bird sites can change annually, the Partnership created a decision tree to assist in formulating the correct, proportional response to any active breeding site. This has already been used to determine the approach to supporting known sites and will be returned to as necessary when additional sites get reported. This decision tree is shown in figure 1 below:
Mitigation Measures
2.25. In many ways, the Revised Strategy remains similar to the previous one, with work continuing on a business-as-usual basis. This approach is based on the positive feedback from the independent review, growing operational experience in delivering mitigation and Bird Aware’s position as a national leader in this area of work.
2.26. As such, the key mitigation measure remains a team of Rangers who patrol the coast and lead on engagement activities. The rangers aim to reduce bird disturbance by helping people to better understand the importance of the over-wintering birds and their vulnerability to disturbance. They advise people on how small changes in their behaviour can be hugely beneficial to the birds.
2.27. Rangers continue to be provided under a Service Level Agreement with Hampshire County Council. Their close working relationship with the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust has been maintained with the Trust still feeding into their training programme, offering mentoring and providing support on the Isle of Wight.
2.28. The staffing structure of the entire team during this reporting period is depicted in figure 2 below:
Figure 2, Staff structure in reporting period
2.29. Under the Revised Strategy the team is due to expand over time, with the full staffing level depicted in Figure 3.
Figure 3, Full staff structure under Revised Strategy
2.30. Even under the expanded structure, the Rangers are still a relatively small team to cover 254 kilometres of coast. To ensure that resources continue to be deployed as effectively as possible, the Rangers worked with the Monitoring Officer to develop a new engagement strategy which they started rolling out within this reporting period.
2.31. This work was made possible owing to the growing data set that Ranger staff have collected related to site visits and other engagement opportunities. By close analysis of this, the Monitoring Officer was able to make key insights into the use of Ranger time and how their messaging is delivered to and received by the public.
2.32. This newly devised method prioritises the quality of engagement, efficient use of ranger time and reaching a broader community. At the end of the reporting period the Monitoring Officer and Rangers will review the results and analyse the gathered data to inform and refine their approach to future engagement.
2.33. During the 2024/25 winter period, the ranger team completed 477 site visits and engaged with a total of 5,324 people whilst out on the coast.
2.34. This season they observed a total of 10,165 visitors during coastal site patrol visits. For ease of comparison this equates to 23 people per hour per site visit. This figure is lower than the number of people seen per site visit during the pandemic (29), but still significantly higher than the number of people seen per site visit pre-pandemic (14).
2.35. The average number of people rangers spoke to per site visit this winter was 13. They engaged with 27% of all visitors seen whilst out on site patrols this winter, which is comparable with recent/post-pandemic years.
2.36. Rangers are able to record detailed interaction information for some of the interactions they have. Whether they are able to record the information varies according to how much time they have to submit this information (on busier sites, there is often less time in between engagements, so precise record keeping is harder at these sites), but also according to the individual conversations and whether they are able to glean the information from the visitor. Therefore, the following data only applies to those interactions where an answer was recorded.
Table 1 Detailed interaction data
| Visitor given “specific advice to avoid bird disturbance” | 8.7% |
| Visitor given “specific advice following bird disturbance” | 1.2% |
| Visitor has spoken to a ranger before | 5% |
| Visitor already aware of overwintering birds | 57% |
| Visitor already aware of the issue of bird disturbance | 48% |
| Visitor was receptive to the key message | 97% |
2.37. In summary, the rangers carried out the following engagement activities:
| Achievement | Figure |
|---|---|
| Site engagement sessions | 477 |
| Total number of people engaged with during site engagement sessions | 5,324 |
| Percentage of people who responded positively to Rangers on site | 97% |
| Community events attended | 103 |
| Number of people engaged with at events | 7,933 |
| Instagram followers at 31 March 2025 | 4,211 |
| Facebook followers at 31 March 2025 | 5,507 |
| LinkedIn followers at 31 March 2025 (account created during reporting period) | 178 |
2.38. Team members have continued to apply learning from a previous ‘Behaviour Change for the Natural Environment’ course. This knowledge helps us frame the language we use in targeted communications across a variety of mediums including social media, website, signage and leaflets.
Monitoring
2.39. Following the positive outcome of the 5 Year Review, the Partnership has moved to a new monitoring schedule, where annual monitoring will not take place, but an extensive season of monitoring will take place every 5th year.
2.40. However, Rangers have continued to collect data related to each site visit and interaction, through a bespoke SNAP survey, and our Monitoring Officer has continued to closely monitor the supported site specific project sites. This work helps future decision making be more evidence based as we build a credible picture of what types of interventions prove most effective under which circumstances.
2.41. Alongside this, the Monitoring Officer has been leading a comprehensive set of surveys designed to allow us to understand how effective the watersports with wildlife work we have undertaken has been.
2.42. All of the information captured through the techniques above has been analysed by the Monitoring Officer and provided valuable insights into how we choose to deploy our resources. This intelligence has allowed us to make better informed decisions and use our practical experience to maximise benefits from several areas of work.
Campaigns and Engagement
2.43. Effective engagement is key to the Partnership’s aim of raising awareness and achieving behavioural change amongst people who visit the coast. The Partnerships work on this area is led by our Campaigns and Engagement Officer, in a post hosted by Hampshire County Council. This postholder is employed to support the Partnership for 0.7f.t.e. and the Partnership is able to benefit from the remaining 0.3f.t.e. in the form of the wider skill set of the Business Development Team. This arrangement allows access to a wide range of skill sets contributing to the wealth of outreach materials the Partnership relies upon.
2.44. A member of the Ranger team continues to have a focus on Content Creation and works alongside the Campaigns and Engagement Officer to produce a series of targeted materials and campaigns. Many of these are produced in a coordinated way which allows them to be used across multiple platforms.
2.45. The Bird Aware Solent website achieved 127,993 pageviews from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025: unusually high user growth of 85% compared with the same period for 23/24. The growth is partly thanks to a corvid post that achieved 48k views and seems unlikely to be sustained in the future.
2.46. Strong growth was also seen across our main social media accounts thanks to authentic and expert content provided by the ranger team. Instagram followers grew in number by 24% from 3,400 at the start of the year to 4,200 at its close, while Facebook grew an astonishing 47% from 3,750 followers to more than 5,500 followers.
2.47. In the autumn the Great Coastal Birdwatch returned for its sixth year and was once again led by Bird Aware Solent and rolled out by other mitigation groups. This year the event was run over 2 weeks from 19 October to 3 November 2024 to allow schools to take part.
2.48. Participants were encouraged to report on the number of species spotted, rather than the total number of birds, to make the project more accessible to non-experts. Alongside this, the online system for submitting recordings was overhauled to make it easier to complete and more engaging to work with. This resulted in an increase in the number of those submitting data.
2.49. We created two videos to promote and support the Great Coastal Birdwatch which achieved a total of 950 clicks via Meta and 57.5k impressions via Google ads. Facebook and Instagram campaigns achieved 1,337 clicks, and a reach of 91.5k.
2.50. Almost 100 different bird species were spotted during the two-week birdwatch including 12 species that are red-listed for conservation concern. The project is a great opportunity to engage with new and existing audiences, raising awareness of the wealth of wildlife on the coast and encouraging responsible bird watching.
2.51. The second annual Bird Aware Art Fest took place in February 2025: a month-long series of events designed to build connections with coastal birdlife through arts and crafts. This project proved highly effective at bringing our messages to entirely new audiences. An accompanying online campaign achieved 882 clicks to the Art Fest webpages and individual events and had a reach of 29,100 people within our operational region.
2.52. Like other events and topics, this provided an invaluable opportunity to take our messaging to thousands of people living along the Solent coastline who may not have previously been aware of the work of Bird Aware.
2.53. The Partnership also ran a photography competition during this reporting period, providing us with another opportunity to raise awareness of coastal birds and the work of Bird Aware, as well as exploring issues around wildlife wellbeing and photography.
2.54. With a deadline of the start of March, more than 300 photos were submitted within 4 categories: birds on the Solent coastline; Solent landscapes; wildlife-aware coastal dogs; and junior. Throughout the competition, 2.5k visits were made to the competition web pages, with a reach of around 100k among our target demographic.
2.55. The judging process worked well with 5 images selected for prizes, which included a guided birdwatching walk for the overall winner and the junior winner of the competition.
Jonathan Corbett and his winning photograph
2.56. The overall winning photo was taken from Lymington Keyhaven and features roosting turnstones on a rock. With the winner’s permission, the photo will feature on the latest edition of Bird Aware Solent information leaflet.
2.57. The achievement of the overall winner is all the more remarkable since he has some permanent sight loss – which wasn’t known to the judging panel when they made their decision. The results of the competition were announced in April with press coverage achieved including the Southampton Echo and a feature in the New Milton Advertiser.
2.58. The category winning photos are featured in a blog post about the results of the competition.
2.59. Subscriber numbers to our quarterly emailed newsletter have grown to over 2,000, an increase of more than 17% from the previous year. The newsletter has an unusually high opening rate of around 60% and a click rate of more than 30%. Bird Aware’s newsletters typically each achieve more than 400 clicks from readers wanting to find out more.
2.60. Bird Aware Solent’s communications collateral has been updated in preparation for the Revised Strategy such as the inclusion of breeding birds.
Education
2.61. This area of work grew considerably throughout the past year, with the ranger team delivering a variety of sessions in educational settings. Work with various ‘badge groups’ such as Beavers and Squirrels has also continued, this is an area that will grow over time as we get known among that community.
2.62. Rangers worked with the Chichester Harbour Conservancy on several of their Junior Conservancy days where they work with local schools and debate the topical question, ‘Should dogs be banned from Chichester Harbour’s coastal footpaths?’ The Partnership will be looking to create its own version of this for the remainder of the Solent area.
2.63. A Ranger presented to the latest Schools Environmental Education Network (SEEN) meeting at Southampton University, showcasing the work we have achieved so far and to encourage further networking and engagement among its members. Enquiries about going into schools has been forthcoming off the back of the presentation. Rangers have continued to grow links with other organisations such as the New Forest Educators Forum and the Early Green Careers Network (EGCN).
2.64. Time was spent this winter season to identifying our links within the National curriculum and areas that we should focus our efforts on; the highlights of which can be seen below:
Wildlife Aware Guides
2.65. Previously referred to as ‘codes of conduct’ these have undergone a rebranding to make them fit more appropriately with our behaviour change strategy and are now known as Wildlife Aware Guides.
2.66. During this reporting period, we expanded the Watersports with Wildlife guide to cover our operational area on the mainland. It provides information on launch points, car parks, toilets, paddle routes and top tips to help people enjoy their sport whilst ensuring the coastal birds are not disturbed. Much work has been undertaken with stakeholders during this period to create the information required to extend the map to cover our operational area on the Isle of Wight and this will be launched in the coming year.
2.67. The Partnership has also formed a connection with Paddle UK, the national governing body for paddlesports. They have expressed how impressed they are with the mapping resource and content that has been created, and a wish to see this cover a wider area. It is hoped that we will be able to work in collaboration with them to improve their offer on their website and enhance their wildlife messaging. They have 86,500 members and we hope to further links with them in the coming months as this would be a great opportunity to get our messaging, work and brand seen by a new and extended audience.
2.68. Alongside this, we continue to promote the 4 steps of our Coastal Guide (below) at every opportunity and regularly advertise our guidance on Wildlife Aware Beach Cleans. This latter guide continues to receive interest from several other conservation bodies nationwide which helps extend the impact of the messaging it contains.
2.69. We have reviewed each proposed interpretation location for the King Charles III England Coast Path in West Sussex. This was done on site with Natural England and West Sussex County Council. Several new locations were identified, and a design brief was created for each of these new locations and sent to the designer. A draft of one of these signs can be seen below.
Draft artwork for the King Charles III England Coast Path in West Sussex
2.70. We have worked with South Western Railway, Network Rail and Octavius to produce two large interpretation panels for Ryde Esplanade and Ryde Pier Head stations. These are due to be installed in September 2025.
Brand Extension
2.71. The Partnership still strongly believe that there would be a benefit in other similar mitigation partnerships sharing the Bird Aware branding.
2.72. Since September 2019, Bird Aware Essex Coast has been operating as a brand partner. They now have in post their Partnership Manager and strong links with this post have been established. Resources and messaging are regularly shared across the two regions.
2.73. During this reporting period we were delighted to welcome Bird Aware Severn Estuary to the brand. Again, resources and messaging will be displayed across their operational area and we are sharing knowledge and best practice with them.
2.74. We have also been approached by potential brand partners who would like to take onboard the Coast and Country Canines brand and establish dog initiatives within their operational areas.
2.75. This is an exciting step in the growth of our messaging and we are working closely with potential partners to establish that they have adequate resources and the same brand values to be able to fully commit to working under the brand. We are in discussion with a couple of potential partners for this and we would expect them to relaunch under this new branding within the next reporting period.
Site Specific Projects
2.76. From April 2020, the Partnership has set aside £2 million every 5 years to fund series of capital projects designed to further the aims of the strategy through the provision of visitor management techniques, enhanced bird habitats, enhanced strategic recreational space or public engagement and education initiatives.
2.77. Owing to the far-reaching impacts of COVID, coupled with other unforeseen impacts such as a seawall breach at one site, the supported projects have been slower to materialise than originally expected. Work is now underway on several and we anticipate some being completed shortly.
2.78. During this reporting period, legal agreements were drafted to support 20 projects, but there were delays associated with them being issued on our behalf. As this has occurred during a period of high inflation for capital projects, this has caused some of the Project Managers to withdraw from the process.
2.79. Towards the end of this reporting period, a new call for projects was launched and it is anticipated that some of the projects that withdrew from the last round will resubmit with revised costs during this period. This approach is being encouraged to ensure that the resulting projects remain as impactful as possible and don’t become scaled down versions of original proposals due to limited funds.
2.80. The Monitoring Officer is working to establish baseline monitoring for the approved sites and also to look at the mitigation impact created at sites that are close to completion. The monitoring of the delivery and effectiveness of projects will ultimately help inform the scoring of future projects as we strive to make this workstream as impactful as possible moving forward.
Financial Contributions
2.81. The Partnership’s expenditure (excluding major projects which use Growth Deal funding) is funded by developer contributions in association with planning permissions for new housing around the Solent. From the 1st April 2024, the fees set on a sliding scale based upon bedroom numbers, ranged from £465 for a one bedroom property to £1,207 for a five or greater bedroom property. These are revised annually in line with RPI and rounded to the nearest whole pound.
Planning Permissions
2.82. Developers whose schemes will have a recreational impact on the Solent SPAs have the option of paying a developer contribution towards mitigation measures as set out in the Solent Recreation Mitigation Strategy, or providing their own mitigation. During 2024/25, planning permission was granted for 3,660 dwellings which were assessed as requiring mitigation. As far as we are aware, all of the planning applicants opted to contribute to the Strategy, as opposed to developing their own bespoke mitigation scheme in consultation with their relevant planning authority and Natural England.
2.83. It is now the established norm in planning appeals for the planning inspector to endorse the principle of the developer contribution or cite the absence of mitigation as a ground for dismissing the appeal. The Partnership is not aware of any planning appeals during the year where the inspector did not support the need for a developer contribution to Solent recreation mitigation.
Dog Initiatives
2. 84. This has been the second winter with the full Coast and Country Canines initiative up and running and it has seen very positive reputational growth and mitigation results. With the support of the whole ranger team the audience has grown significantly, and rangers have reported that having the initiative there to signpost to has been extremely helpful and boosted their confidence in approaching dog walkers. At in person events and online, reception to our messaging has been positive, with dog owners taking an interest in both the overall initiative and the resources offered.
2.85. This winter season the engagement offering of Coast and Country Canines was expanded and improved upon. As well as usual pop ups and site visits, the team ran Waggy Walks – guided social dog walks – at several different sites. These receive good feedback from dog owners and offer a chance for high quality engagement and messaging. These will continue to be an important engagement strand and walks at more sites – including the Isle of Wight are planned. These will be advertised in the new Coast and Country Canines newsletter as well as on the website.
2.86. The team trialled two training workshops on loose lead walking and recall in March. These were limited to Hampshire County Council staff for the trial and gave a good idea of how future sessions could work in practise. Sessions lasted 50 minutes and gave dog owners valuable skills to help them with responsible walking, as well as providing a good opportunity to deliver messaging. Future workshops, in collaboration with other dog trainers are being explored, with interest already from local trainers. Feedback from one attendee: “If these sessions were to become a regular offer, we would be thrilled to attend more and would be happy to pay for them. Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and we look forward to future opportunities to participate.”
2.87. Recruitment for two new members of the dog initiatives team has been ongoing since the beginning of the season. One of these posts will focus on the engagement around breeding birds and events, working closely with the similar water-sports role. The other will work on outreach to dog industry professionals, building collaborative relationships and bespoke resources. These roles have since been filled, and the new staff members will be in post soon.
Plans for 2025/2026
3.1. The local authorities are pooling the developer contributions through the Partnership. A budget has been set for 2025/26 totalling £3,698,000. This budget (reproduced in appendix 2) will fund the implementation of mitigation measures and associated costs including project staff, marketing and monitoring activities.
3.2. The mitigation measures described above are being funded by developer contributions from the housing planned within 5.6 km of the 3 Solent SPAs, with legislation requiring the measures be provided in-perpetuity. The Partnership is addressing this by investing a proportion of the developer contributions received in order to create an investment pot which will fund the mitigation measures in-perpetuity. It has been calculated that nearly 60% of the developer contributions received needs to be invested in that way in order to provide sufficient future income to fund the mitigation measures in-perpetuity.
3.3. The decisions, mitigation measures and other initiatives which are planned to be undertaken during 2025/26 include:
- Providing support for SPA breeding birds for the first time;
- Launching the final part of the map supporting the ‘Watersports with Wildlife’ initiative, such that it offers practical advice and support throughout the entirety of our operational area;
- Awarding the next round of grants to support site specific projects;
- Recruitment and induction of new team members to help support the extended work programme of the Revised Strategy;
- Hosting the 2025 Mitigation Meet Up, the annual conference for professionals working within the recreational disturbance sector;
- Bolstering communications capacity to reach a wider audience through an expanded range of measures;
- Continuous monitoring to ensure that resources are being used as effectively as possible;
- Further growing Coast and Country Canines and nurturing a supportive network for the dog community;
- Launching ‘Coast and Country Canines’ in other areas with similar initiatives through working with other recreational mitigation partnerships;
- Using knowledge of behaviour change science to shape all our messaging and activities;
- Actively promoting the use of the Bird Aware brand to 3rd parties;
- Use of targeted campaigns to further grow our reputation and sphere of influence, locally and nationally;
- Continuing to seek more direct involvement from Partner organisations;
- Working with the Accountable Body to hand this important role over to another organisation within the Partnership.
Annual Report Appendix 1:
SRMP 2024/25 accounts
| INCOME | Full year budget | Actuals at 31/03/25 | Variance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Developer contributions | -£2,236,000 | -£1,960,211 | -£275,789 | |
| Brand sales | £0 | -£1,500 | £1,500 | |
| Interest from investments | £0 | -£227,696 | £227,696 | |
| Total | -£2,236,000 | -£2,189,407 | -£46,593 |
| EXPENDITURE | Full year budget | Actuals at 31/03/25 | Variance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staffing | Rangers | £322,500 | £329,492 | £6,992 |
| Partnership Manager | £48,000 | £50,100 | £2,100 | |
| Campaigns & Engagment | £58,000 | £53,000 | -£5,000 | |
| Dog Initiatives Officer | £48,000 | £50,100 | £2,100 | |
| Contrib'n to HIWWT Monitoring Officer | £10,000 | £44,519 | £34,519 | |
| Site Specific Projects | Grant allocations | £400,000 | £0 | -£400,000 |
| Project monitoring | £30,000 | £0 | -£30,000 | |
| Operating costs | Campaigns | £10,000 | £10,000 | £0 |
| Dog initiatives | £10,000 | £10,000 | £0 | |
| Other operational costs | £10,000 | £1,641 | -£8,359 | |
| Recharge for Accountable body role | £0 | £2,700 | ||
| Financial Modelling Consultancy | £0 | £7,875 | ||
| Total | £946,500 | £557,327 | -£389,173 | |
| SURPLUS (-) / DEFICIT (+) | -£1,289,500 | -£1,632,080 | £342,580 |
| RESERVES POSITION | General Reserve (Winter Birds) | In Perpetuity Fund (Winter Birds) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balances brought forward @ 01/04/24 | £353,601 | £5,620,853 | £5,974,454 |
| Transfer 2024/25 to strengthen spending reserve | £146,399 | £146,399 | |
| Transfer 2024/25 to the In Perpetuity Fund | £630,681 | £630,681 | |
| Closing Balances @ 31/03/25 | £500,000 | £6,251,534 | £6,751,534 |
Annual Report Appendix 2:
2025/26 Budget
| Item | £000s |
|---|---|
| 13 Hampshire County Council Team | 869 |
| Partnership Manager | 54 |
| Campaigns & Engagement Officer | 64 |
| Campaigns operational budget | 30 |
| Dog initiatives | 30 |
| Monitoring (consultancy support) | 25 |
| Materials (signage) | 15 |
| Collaboration | 15 |
| Contribution to Monitoring Officer | 12 |
| Operating budget | 10 |
| Stakeholder workshops | 5 |
| Site Specific Project Monitoring Officer | 40 |
| Site Specific Projects | 400 * |
| Sub-total | 1,568 |
| Contribution to in-perpetuity fund | 2,130 ** |
| Total budget | 3,698 *** |
* This is in addition to money committed in previous years but not yet drawn down (circa £1300k)
** This is a maximum figure and may not be achieved during 2025/26, but it is anticipated that any underpayment now will be compensated for in later years.
*** This is a maximum figure, dependant upon the contribution to the in-perpetuity fund during this period.
