MORECAMBE Bay is among the top five most important spots for waterbirds in the UK, according to a new survey.

The area, which is listed fourth overall after The Wash in East Anglia, the Ribble Estuary and North Norfolk Coast, has also been named the number one spot for curlews.

It provides a key wintering ground for grey plovers and bar-tailed godwits, which have both seen a national decline over the past ten years.

The bar-tailed godwit is third in the list of waterbirds that have seen the most decline in the UK, with a drop of 42 per cent since 1997/98.

Robin Horner, reserve manager at RSPB Leighton Moss in Silverdale, said the study showed that the UK’s wetlands, particularly those on the coast, were of ‘enormous importance’ to the survival of a great number of wintering and migrating birds.

“Morecambe Bay is a huge estuary with huge amounts of sediments and mudflats within it,” said Mr Horner. “It has around 200,000 birds using it during the winter.

“The fact that it listed as the fourth most important site in the whole of the UK and the Ribble is second shows how phenomenally important the north west is for waterbirds.”

He said that the population of bar-tailed godwits in Morecambe Bay alone had dropped by more than 50 per cent, from around 4,500 in 2003/04 to just 2,000 last year.

“It could be because of the milder winters we have had over the last ten years,” said Mr Horner. “Some of the birds are wintering in Europe because it’s milder and they don’t need to travel as far.”

The annual survey, which is carried out by the RSPB, British Trust for Ornithology and the Joint Nature Conservation Committe, in association with the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, helps to assess trends in numbers and distribution of waterbird populations.