HAMPSHIRE'S top spot for wading birds could be the Hythe to Cadland foreshore - if the Dibden Bay development goes ahead.

The public inquiry heard that Associated British Ports' scheme to build a container terminal at Dibden Bay would mean dredged mud being pumped onto the marshes between Hythe and Fawley.

But the new layer of silt would be a bonus for wildlife, according to ecology expert Philip Colebourn, speaking for ABP.

"The recharge of mud will produce a clean mudflat in an appropriate position," he told the hearing at Southampton's Eastern Docks.

"It could make the Hythe to Cadland foreshore the best habitat of its kind in Southampton Water."

Mr Colebourn said the Hythe to Cadland area was not as popular with birds as it should be.

"Go to Dibden now and you'll see bait diggers and birds. Go to Hythe, no bait diggers, and no birds."

But Graham Machin, questioning Mr Colebourn on behalf of English Nature, said his own argument suggested that birds preferred undisturbed feeding areas like Dibden Bay.

"You don't know why birds use certain sites or why they don't use Hythe to Cadland," said Mr Machin.

"To assume the recharge will make this foreshore among the most popular sites is mere assertion with no scientific basis."

Mr Machin told the hearing that recent counts by bird experts showed that Southampton Water, including Dibden Bay, was home for internationally important waterbirds. He said great-crested grebes, red-breasted mergansers, cormorants and goldeneye ducks had all been observed feeding in the area.

"But all these species are highly mobile," responded Mr Colebourn.

"They may not depend on Dibden to feed."

"The Dibden Bay reclaim is an ideal site for birds to take refuge in stormy weather. It is set back and sheltered," said Mr Machin.

"I am not sure it is where I would want to go, if I were a bird," said Mr Colebourn.

ABP's proposals for Dibden Bay would mean the complete loss of the reclaimed foreshore as a wildlife habitat, but they plan to create an alternative nature conservation area if the terminal goes ahead.

Mr Colebourn said earlier in the hearing that he was "certain" no birds would die as a direct result of being displaced from Dibden Bay.