Dredging, navigation and revetment construction • Sediment extraction • Turf cutting • Hay making • Reed cutting • Samphire gathering • Spartina

Spartina

Spartina has had a major impact on intertidal areas throughout England and Wales. The main concern has been the extent to which the species invades and, therefore, reduces intertidal mudflat area, which is important for the winter feeding of some of the more numerous wading birds, such as the Dunlin. This species is thought to have been affected on the Dovey Estuary in west Wales , where a reduction in the population of Dunlin coincided with a rapid expansion of Spartina. The key issue from a nature conservation point of view is the extent to which the rapid growth of the vegetation, which in some sites can cover mudflats very rapidly, might compromise the importance of the sites for their wader populations. This concern has led to attempts at control in some sites, originally with herbicides, but more recently using physical means, such as ‘rotoburying’, to control the expansion of the plant.