Chichester

Hello, Unfortunately I cannot post the video as it is too large. Most of the birds had been frightened away by the time the photo was taken. In any one year up to 55, 000 shorebirds will pass through Chichester Harbour, many of them stopping here during migration to feed on the food rich habitats. There may be no regulations preventing a Paramotor pilot going down so low where buildings or people are not present (although there are plenty of boats and navigational marks in Chichester Harbour) it is a fact that birds become disturbed and negatively impacted when a paramotor gets too low. With this knowledge, I’m sure that most paramotorists would not want to disturb birdlife with or without regulation in place. The issue of birds being disturbed is not limited to paramotorists, but to extends to everyone and anything that come within a range with the birds perceive as a threat. Paramotorists can have a relatively large impact on the birdlife compared to other recreation sports as they are highly visible and easily heard by birdlife. Thank you for offering to distribute information about the location of Special Protection Areas and I enclose one map showing the Special Protection Areas local to Chichester and a weblink showing the wider Special Protection Areas across of the Solent. http://www.solentems.org.uk/maps/ Chichester Harbour Conservancy

I work for Chichester Harbour Conservancy and witnessed two paramotorists causing a disturbance to a flock of birds at Itchenor so I wanted to raise awareness of the impacts they can have on wild birds. The pictures I enclose shows them affecting the birds, as they were flying very low and diving to heights of 50 ft. Over 80,000 birds rely on Chichester and Langstone Harbours for food, shelter and nesting and the area is protected by European law (Special Protection Area). It is vital that birds are not frightened by activities in both of these Harbours or in other Special Protection Areas as this can affect their feeding, breeding and survival. Paramotorists may not be aware of their impacts so I hope that this information will raise awareness and avoid this happening in again in the future. The location of Special Protection Areas can been found by looking at this website http://www.magic.gov.uk/ Chichester Harbour Conservancy