Blog post by Andrew Stanbury, Conservation Scientist, RSPB Centre for Conservation Science.
Results show that England’s upland farmland continues to hold highly significant populations of breeding curlews, lapwings and snipe.
Many of our breeding wader populations are in trouble; having suffered dramatic declines over recent decades. Some of the highest remaining concentrations are found in the uplands, but even here there are worrying trends.
Wader surveys, within these upland areas, have tended to focus on unenclosed moorland, and its importance is well recognised, but the significance of the surrounding enclosed farmland is less well known.
The survey
Back in 2016, the RSPB undertook a collaborative project, led by the BTO and funded by Natural England/Defra, to survey breeding waders found on the agricultural land in England’s upland margins, sometimes referred to as ‘in-bye’. Here ‘in-bye’ is defined as all agricultural land below and within 1km of the ‘moorland line’.
This survey focussed on six species: curlew, golden plover, lapwing, oystercatcher, redshank and snipe. As well as highlighting the importance of ‘in-bye’ land, the survey also aimed to provide a baseline against which to measure future change, and to test the impacts of agri-environment schemes (AES) prescriptions designed to maintain or increase breeding wader numbers.
Over 500 tetrads (2x2 km squares) from Cornwall to Northumberland were covered. The fieldwork was split between volunteers and RSPB fieldworkers.
Thanks and credit must go to the many volunteers who helped with the survey and the farmers/landowners for allowing access.
Results
Across the 730 km2 of in-bye farmland surveyed an impressive 33,000 individual waders were recorded.
The results reinforce the importance of England’s upland margins for several wader species; with population estimates (in pairs) of 27,000 lapwing, 15,000 curlew, 6,800 oystercatcher, 4,500 snipe and 1,600 redshank.
These figures represent over 50% of England’s breeding curlew, lapwing and snipe populations, as well as 12% and 28% of redshank and oystercatcher respectively.
All these species appear on either the red or amber lists of Birds of Conservation Concern in the UK, while curlew, lapwing and oystercatcher are now classed as globally Near-threatened by the IUCN..
As well as noting the breeding waders, surveyors also recorded what habitats were present at an individual field level.
This reinforced previously documents habitat associations, such as the avoidance field boundaries, preference for heterogeneous vegetation and reliance on wet ground. Importantly the survey demonstrated a positive relationship between breeding waders and land under AES management.
You can read full copy of the survey report online; with additional summary information on the Natural England blog and BTO website.