Dog Rangers
Dogs love the coast and life doesn’t get much better for our dogs than having a run and a good sniff along the beach. It makes them happy which makes us their owners happy too!
Northumberland is a dog friendly place, but dogs have a big part to play in helping our shorebirds. Research shows that well over 50% of coastal bird disturbance involves a dog, mostly involving dogs which are off lead. Dogs themselves are not doing anything wrong, they are doing what comes naturally and following their instincts, they need our help to do the right thing.
The birds need all of their time to feed, preen and rest in order to survive the winter. Being disturbed can harm their chances of survival. Birds see dogs in the same way as they see any predator, but if your dogs can do the following four simple things then this will help our birds enormously and your dogs can still have fun.
Dogs that have taken the pledge
The Dog Rangers pledge
1 Give the birds space. Around 40-50m should be fine under most circumstances but it does depend on if you are running around or plodding along!
If the birds fly off you have got too close – give them more space next time.
2 Please dogs, never chase the birds. Dogs, you might think it is fun but they don’t think it’s a game – it’s life and death to them, it wastes valuable energy and gives them less time to feed.
At high tide the shorebirds have very little space as their feeding grounds are covered by the rising water. They can’t feed at this time so they gather in high tide roosts on rocky headlands and man-made structures like piers or staithes. Please be extra careful to give Space for Shorebirds at high tide.
3 Follow signage and requests by rangers. The signs may be alerting you to the presence of shorebird feeding or roosting areas.
During the breeding season (April to June) the signs will help you to avoid areas where species such as ringed plover are nesting.
In some areas where birds are nesting or roosting you could be asked to have your dog on the lead. We promise to ask you this only when it’s essential to avoid harming the shorebirds because we know dogs love running free on the beach.
4 When crossing the dunes keep to the main paths. If you stay on the formal paths there is less risk of you picking up the seeds of pirri pirri bur and spreading them to the rest of the dunes, other beauty spots or your garden!
Some dogs have been so matted in the sticky burs that they have had to be shaved following a trip to the coast.
Check your dog after walking through the dunes for pirri-pirri burs. Take care to prise them from your dog and put them into a rubbish bin.
Space for Shorebirds are recruiting a team of Dog Rangers
We want dogs just like yours to join us and take the Dog Ranger pledge. Message us on social media and use the hashtag #dogranger or see us on the coast. We’ll get a picture of your dog taking the Dog Ranger pledge and we’ve always got some nice treats for your pooch.
If you take the dog ranger pledge you could be our Dog Ranger of the month, we’ll feature your pooch on our social media pages and we’ll make sure you’ll get extra treats.
Photo by Gavin Duthie
