SPA description
(information as published 2001)
Breydon Water
Breydon Water is located at the extreme east of England on the
coast of Norfolk. The site is an inland tidal estuary at the mouth
of the River Yare and its confluence with the Rivers Bure and
Waveney. It has extensive areas of mud-flats that are exposed at
low tide and these form the only tidal flats on the east coast of
Norfolk. There are also extensive areas of floodplain grassland
adjacent to the intertidal areas. Breydon Water is internationally
important for wintering waterbirds, some of which feed in the
Broadland SPA that adjoins this site at Halvergate
Marshes.
Qualifying species
For individual species accounts visit the Species
Accounts section
This site qualifies under Article 4.1 of the
Directive (79/409/EEC) by supporting populations of European
importance of the following species listed on Annex I of the
Directive:
During the breeding season;
Common Tern Sterna hirundo, 155 pairs representing up
to 1.3% of the breeding population in Great Britain (4 count mean,
1992-1994 & 1996)
Over winter;
Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta, 33 individuals
representing up to 2.6% of the wintering population in Great
Britain (5 year peak mean 1991/2 - 1995/6)
Bewick's Swan Cygnus columbianus bewickii, 391
individuals representing up to 5.6% of the wintering population in
Great Britain (5 year peak mean 1991/2 - 1995/6)
Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria, 5,040 individuals
representing up to 2.0% of the wintering population in Great
Britain (5 year peak mean 1991/2 - 1995/6)
Assemblage qualification: A wetland of international
importance.
The area qualifies under Article 4.2 of the
Directive (79/409/EEC) by regularly supporting at least 20,000
waterfowl
Over winter, the area regularly supports 43,225 individual
waterfowl (5 year peak mean 1991/2 - 1995/6) including:
Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa islandica, Dunlin
Calidris alpina alpina, Lapwing Vanellus
vanellus, Shoveler Anas clypeata, Wigeon Anas
penelope, White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons
albifrons, Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo, Golden
Plover Pluvialis apricaria, Avocet Recurvirostra
avosetta, Bewick's Swan Cygnus columbianus
bewickii.
Note:
Many designated sites are on private land: the listing of
a site in these pages does not imply any right of public
access.
Note that sites selected for waterbird species on the basis of
their occurrence in the breeding, passage or winter periods also
provide legal protection for these species when they occur at other
times of the year.