Solent SPA Designation

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EC Directive 79/409 on the Conservation of Wild Birds: Special Protection Area (SPA)
Name: Solent and Southampton Water

Unitary Authority/County: Hampshire County Council, New Forest District Council, Test Valley Borough Council, Southampton City Council Unitary Authority, Eastleigh Borough Council, Fareham District Council and Isle of Wight Council Unitary Authority.

Consultation proposal: The Solent and Southampton Water SPA site comprises a series of estuaries and adjacent coastal habitats important for breeding gulls and terns and wintering waterfowl. The following SSSIs; Lymington River Reedbeds, Sowley Pond, Hythe to Calshot Marshes and Titchfield Haven, and parts of Yar Estuary, Hurst Castle and Lymington River Estuary, North Solent, Lee-on-Solent to Itchen Estuary, Upper Hamble Estuary and Woods, Newtown Harbour, Thorness Bay, Medina Estuary, King's Quay Shore, Ryde Sands and Wootton Creek, Brading Marshes to St Helen's Ledges, Whitecliff Bay and Bembridge Ledges have been recommended as a Special Protection Area because of their European ornithological importance.

Status: Classified 1 October 1998.

Boundary of SPA: SPA boundary is coincident with Lymington River Reedbeds SSSl, Sowley Pond SSSI, Hythe to Calshot Marshes SSSI and Titchfield Haven SSSI and includes parts of the other SSSI listed above. Contact Natural England for a map for clarification of the SPA boundary.

European ornithological importance of SPA
Solent and Southampton Water SPA is of European importance because:

a) The site qualifies under article 4.1 of the Birds Directive (79/409/EEC) as it is used regularly by 1 % or more of the Great Britain population of a species listed in Annex 1 in any season:

Annex I species	5 yr peak mean	Count years
Mediterranean Gull Larus melanocephalus	2 pairs (8.2-13.9% GB)	1994-1998
Sandwich tern Sterna sandvicensis	231 pairs (1.7% GB)	1993-1997
Common tern Sterna hirundo	267 pairs (2.2 % GB)	1993-1997
Little tern Sterna albifrons	49 pairs (2 % GB)	1993-1997
Roseate tern Sterrna dougalli	2 pairs (3.1 % GB)	1993-1997

Bird Numbers from: JNCC Seabird Colony Register

b) The site qualifies under article 4.2 of the Birds Directive (79/409/EEC) as it is used regularly by 1% or more of the biogeographic population of a regularly occurring migratory species (other than those listed in Annex 1) in any season.

Non Annex I migratory bird species	5 yr peak mean from -1992/93-1996/97
Dark- bellied brent geese Branta bernicla bernicla	750* (2.5% W Siberia/W Europe)
Teal Anas crecca	4,400* (1.1% NW Europe)
Ringed plover Chwadrius hiaticula	552* (1.1% Europe/NW Africa)
Black-tailed godwit Limosa limosa	1125* (1.6% Iceland)

Bird Numbers from: WeBS Wildfowl & Waders database
Unit of population size: * individual birds wintering

c) The site is used regularly by over 20,000 waterfowl (waterfowl as defined by the Ramsar Convention) or 20,000 seabirds in any season.

5 yr peak mean from 1992/93-1996/97
51,361*	(21,401 wildfowl, 29,960 waders)

Unit of population size - *individual birds wintering

Additional non-qualifying interest

An outstanding assemblage of wintering and passage birds are dependent on wetland habitats within the site, including the following Annex l species not mentioned previously: red-throated diver Gavia stellata, black-throated diver G. arctica, great northern diver G. immer, Slavonian grebe Podiceps aurilus, little egret Egretta garzetta, hen harrier Circus cyaneus. marsh harrier Circus aeruginosus, merlin Falco columbarius, peregrine Falco peregrinus and short-eared owl Asioflammeus.

Source: English Nature, September 1998

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