Evaluating the Coastal Environment for Marine Birds
229
Notional Effects of Reduced Food Supply
During the shag breeding season sandeels migrate inshore from the deeper waters of
the North Sea into shallower regions that are more profitable for shags to exploit
(Wright, 1996). Natural variation in the numbers and timing of these movements will
presumably result in widely differing prey-capture rates for shags breeding at the Isle
of May both within and between years. Following Wanless et al. (1998) we illustrate
the effects of a plausible range of feeding rates on predicted daily feeding times. The
229
Notional Effects of Reduced Food Supply
During the shag breeding season sandeels migrate inshore from the deeper waters of
the North Sea into shallower regions that are more profitable for shags to exploit
(Wright, 1996). Natural variation in the numbers and timing of these movements will
presumably result in widely differing prey-capture rates for shags breeding at the Isle
of May both within and between years. Following Wanless et al. (1998) we illustrate
the effects of a plausible range of feeding rates on predicted daily feeding times. The