Help our coastal birds

Published 08:23 on 16 Jul 2026

Calling sailors, boaters and paddlers can you help our coastal birds?

If you're heading out on the water this summer, you can help our coastal birds survive and thrive for future generations. Each year, coastal birds including Little Terns, Oystercatchers and Ringed Plovers attempt to nest on Chichester Harbour's shingle spits and islands, and they're attempting to nest there right now. There are very few places around the harbour that are free of disturbance or predators, and numbers of breeding coastal birds have declined drastically over recent years. Stakes Island and Pilsey Island are really important sites for nesting birds, but they are easily disturbed and scared by people in sailing boats, motor boats and paddle craft getting too close, or even landing. When these birds are sitting on their eggs, they will fly off and the eggs may chill to the point that the chicks never hatch. And once the chicks have hatched, they are even more vulnerable to disturbance.

What can you do to help? Read more here..

By keeping 100m away from the shore and avoiding landing on Stakes Island, Pilsey Island and other shingle islands and spits, you can give our coastal birds the best chances of nesting success and long-term survival. Take a look at the map below to see the areas to avoid.

Success last year thank you!

Thank you to all those that helped our breeding birds last year by giving them the space they need. There was success in raising chicks from Little Terns, Ringed Plover and Oystercatchers on the harbour's shingle islands. With your help we hope that 2026 can see more of these threatened birds raising their chicks in Chichester Harbour.