Literature review to assess bird species connectivity to Special ...

1. INTRODUCTION
Proposals for operations or developments affecting Special Protection Areas (SPAs)
have to be judged on a case-by-case basis using the procedures established through
the Habitats Directive. These assess whether development proposals are likely to
have an impact on a designated site. The Conservation (Natural Habitats. &c.)
Regulations 1994, as amended, set out measures to ensure that the Habitats and
Birds Directives are implemented in accordance with planning law in the UK.
SPAs (including potential SPAs) are protected by legal policies placed on competent
authorities 1 to consider consents or permissions relating to plans or projects that
could adversely affect the conservation interest of a European designated site. The
competent authority must establish whether the proposed consent or permission is
directly connected with, or necessary to, site management for nature conservation. It
must also decide whether it is likely to have a significant effect on the site either
individually or in combination with other plans or projects. The authority must take
account of advice from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).
The purpose of this literature review is to help to identify when there is a connection
between a proposal and the qualifying interests which may compromise the site.
Stage 3 of the Habitats Regulations Appraisal process asks “Is the proposal likely to
have a significant effect on the site?” This step acts as a screening stage, removing
from the Habitats Regulations Appraisal plans/projects which clearly have no
connection to a site’s qualifying interests or those where it is very obvious that the
conservation objectives for the site’s qualifying interests will not be undermined
despite a connection. This review provides information on dispersal and foraging
distances for a range of bird species (listed in Table 1) which, as qualifying interests
of SPAs, are frequently encountered during the consideration of plans and projects.
This information should help in the identification of potential connections.
1 This term derives from the Habitats Regulations and relates to the duties which the
Regulations impose on public bodies and individuals. Regulation 6(1) defines competent
authorities as "any Minister, government department, public or statutory undertaker, public
body of any description or person holding a public office". In the context of a plan or project,
the competent authority is the authority with the power or duty to determine whether or not the
proposal can proceed.
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