Doors open 19:00, talk commences 19:30

Peter Hall, Budleigh Salterton

Speaker - John Goss Custard

Birds and People: Resolving the conflicts of estuaries

Research carried out in many countries over the past 50 years has greatly improved our ability to predict the effect environmental change on birds that spend the winter on our estuaries. How this has been achieved is illustrated in this talk given by John Goss Custard. This explains the research carried out on the Exe estuary by John and his colleagues since 1976.

The changes to the estuary environment that have been used to illustrate the two main approaches that have been developed include:

• Disturbance from people
• Loss of feeding habitat
• Harvesting of shellfish

Examples are taken of coastal areas where these approaches have been applied.

John Goss Custard Bachelor of Science (Bristol University) Doctor of Science (Aberdeen University) Doctor of Philosophy(Aberdeen University) - John worked for The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) Studying Animal populations and was a Estuarine Ecologist. He has also been an  advisor to Devon County Council and Exeter City Council on the effect of dredging, pontoon construction and the national cycle network on shore birds of the river Exe.