The newsletter of the Wetland Bird Survey surv e remoying coas te t See lines page 6
seaducks in peril 08
the changing face of british estuaries 14
Issue 28 Spring 2012 Also Inside 01 A new approach to webs reporting 02 From the Editor 03 webs snippets 04 Webs site in the spotlight 05 Low Tide Counts Update 06 rafos update 08 seaducks in peril 10 Introducing i-webs 12 the web of life 13 Exposing the squealers 14 wader diversity changes 16 water, water everywhere 18 local organiser update 19 indices explained 20 backchat plus WeBS who's who, core count dates & News In association with
Which waterbodies count? 16
A new approach to WeBS Reporting Feedback of results from WeBS has long been the key to its success but in order to provide better local results, changes to the way these are presented are afoot...
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eBS has been running in one form or another since 1947. The main channel for feedback has been the annual report, Waterbirds in the UK. This has served its purpose well over the years and remains popular with both counters and conservation staff, as evidenced by the findings of the recent WeBS Questionnaire. However, despite being very detailed in some respects, the report is also quite inflexible in what can be shown.
In particular, counts are presented annually for key sites for each species. These tend to be the largest estuaries and reservoirs, whereas the majority of counters actually cover smaller sites that are seldom mentioned, if ever. Moreover, as devolution within the UK has progressed it is becoming increasingly important to be able to report at the individual country level. A Scottish WeBS report, for example, has often been suggested and would be widely welcomed.