USGS Home
Contact USGS
Search USGS

The trend in Great Britain towards extending the game-fishing season may lead to increased encounters between anglers and overwintering wildfowl. This paper considers the effects on wildfowl due to the start of angling activity in March at Llandegfedd Reservoir. The reservoir is large, but anglers and waterfowl exploit the same restricted areas. Eurasian wigeon (Anas penelope), green-winged teal (Anas crecca), common pochard (Aythya ferina) and mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) were all driven from their preferred feeding or roosting sites and departed from the reservoir prematurely. Temporary reserve areas are suggested at Llandegfedd Reservoir for wildfowl at the start of the fishing season. The correlation coefficient between waterfowl numbers and availability of open grassland in each area shows the effect of angling in the following tabulation:

Species                    Before angling           After angling   
                              activity                activity      

Wigeon                         0.729*                   0.038 

Teal                           0.784*                  -0.034       

Pochard                        0.601*                  -0.138       
	                                                           
*Significant at 5% level (df = 11).