Wetland Bird Survey Data

The UK hosts internationally important numbers of wintering waterbirds. One of the principal aims of WeBS is to provide data to facilitate their conservation.

To facilitate the greatest possible use of WeBS data, a variety of data outputs are available:

  • Detailed monthly count data and reports for ecological consultants, researchers and others at count unit (WeBS sector) or site level for Core Counts and Low Tide Counts can be obtained using our data request service.
    Find A Site using our map.
  • Annual peak site counts for all waterbirds at every WeBS site which has at least one Core Count (over 8000 sites!) are available in the Numbers & Trends section of the WeBS Report Online. These peak counts may be used under an Open Government Licence, except for some supplementary counts from other organisations. See the annual report page for more background information. You can use the "WeBS Report: View Site" links in the Find A Site site details to jump straight to the relvant page of the report for the site you are interested in.
  • Annual site waterbird totals optionally including non-native species, gulls/terns and supplementary counts, are available in the Site Totals section of the WeBS Report Online (Site Totals) under an Open Government Licence. This includes both the principal sites and all other WeBS sites.
  • Estuary Low Tide Count site maxima, average count and average density are available in the Low Tide section of the the WeBS Report Online (Low Tide) under an Open Government Licence.
  • Protected site trends (5-year, 10-year, up to 25-year, since baseline) for SPAs, SSSIs and ASSIs that have wintering waterbird features are available in the WeBS Alerts section of the WeBS Report Online (Alerts) under an Open Government Licence.
  • Non-estuarine coast regional population estimates and maps of counts are available in the NEWS section of the WeBS Report Online (NEWS).
  • WeBS Counters, funding partners and Local Organisers and county bird recorders can be given bespoke access to relevant raw data downloads via the WeBS Online data entry system. You will need to contact us to apply for access and discuss your requirements (note that Counters and Local Organisers can automatically download counts for their own sites).
  • National species indices are plotted in the Numbers & Trends section of the WeBS Report Online and available as spreadsheet download, under an Open Government Licence.
  • Species 1% threshold levels, used for determining sites of national and international importance, are viewable in the Numbers and Trends section of the WeBS Report Online and available as a spreadsheet download.
  • Species presence records are published with an Open Government Licence on the NBN Atlas where they can be mapped and downloaded with other data sources, for example for student projects and in Local Environmental Records Centres data searches.
  • For large international projects, January counts are also available with those from other countries from the International Waterbird Census.

Submit a data request

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