<?xml version="1.0"?>
<oai_dc:dc xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
  <dc:title xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">Surveys of Potential Oystercatcher Prey, Pembrey Sands (2011)</dc:title>
  <dc:type xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">dataset</dc:type>
  <dc:identifier xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">https://portal.medin.org.uk/portal/start.php?tpc=007_NRW_DS114766</dc:identifier>
  <dc:description xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">The Burry Inlet Special Protection Area (SPA) supports nationally and internationally important populations of wildfowl and waders. The former Countryside Council for Wales (CCW), now part of Natural Resources Wales (NRW), are studying the food requirements of oystercatcher and knot, to develop monitoring targets and to assess the implications of shellfish fisheries on the bird populations. This data was captured to provide data on abundance and distribution of potential oystercatcher prey on Pembrey Sands. The data collected and its results will primarily be used for site monitoring and also for casework. As part of that study, surveys of the cockle and mussel stocks in the Burry Inlet have been carried out every autumn since 2004, using a standard methodology. Significant populations of oystercatcher also feed in the Three Rivers and along Pembrey Sands and it is known that they are part of the same population that feed in the Burry Inlet SPA. 

Data from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) on oystercatcher distribution along the Pembrey coast showed that they concentrate in the central section of the Sands and confirmed that they are feeding at low tide. Sediment fauna that are found along the Pembrey coast include a variety of shellfish (but not cockles and mussels) and a number of large bodied polychaete worms that may be potential prey for oystercatcher. A survey of potential oystercatcher prey along the Pembrey Sands was carried out in late September 2009. It showed high densities of the bivalves Donax vittatus and Angulus vittatus and the polychaetes Lanice conchilega and Owenia fusiformis, distributed across the lower and middle shore. A repeat survey was commissioned by CCW in autumn 2011. In the future this data may be combined with data gathered on bird foraging behaviour, together with site specific data on bird numbers and used in an individual behaviour based model to predict the food requirements of a bird population.</dc:description>
  <dc:date xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">20110430</dc:date>
</oai_dc:dc>