Diminishing calls from the wild

Ever since humans first cleared the wildwood and tilled Britain’s soils, the ground-nesting lapwing will have been a constant companion.

In spring its plaintive ‘pee-wit’ would have been heard across every part of the UK from the uplands to coastal marshes and everywhere in between open enough to see a horizon.

For me, the lapwing is one of our most beautiful and evocative birds.  It always elicits a positive reaction from people who see it for the first time and for those that have grown to love the bird, it encourages a passion that verges on a (healthy) obsession. 

So it is with deep sadness to learn that today’s publication of the results from the Breeding Bird Survey show that these formerly ever-present birds have reached their lowest level since the 1990s.  And for those with memories extending a few decades earlier will realise the 1990s weren’t a high point in the lapwing’s abundance. These birds seem to be ebbing away fast from landscapes they have called home for thousands of years.  For some, this will seem unbearable and it requires urgent action.

Other waders join the list too: snipe and curlew are also at their lowest ebbs. It is shocking to realise too that there is worse to come.  The results published today are the results from last year’s nesting season.  With floods washing out 600 wading birds at our Ouse Washes reserve this spring, the prospects for waders look even bleaker: these incidents haven’t yet been factored in to the ‘stocktake’.

The birds covered in the Breeding Bird Survey aren’t ones which should need to rely on nature reserves.  They cover widespread birds; those that you and I could reasonably expect to see while walking through the countryside.

John Bridges (rspb-images.com)

But ten of the species recorded by the Breeding Bird Survey since it began in 1995 have halved in number.  Topping this list is the turtle dove.  Noted for their ‘purring’ song, four out of every five turtle doves purring in the 1990s have now disappeared.  The thousands of volunteers who help to count the nation’s birds are telling us that other countryside specialities are vanishing too: the whinchat, the spotted flycatcher, the nightingale, and even the starling are all less common than they were just two decades ago.

We know the problem, but what’s the solution? Well, for our migrants, action at home will only ever be part of the solution.  We need to work with others – such as the BTO and our BirdLife International partners – to find out what is happening on their flyway and in their wintering grounds.  Yes, for some species, such as the turtle dove, research is needed to understand more about their needs. We’re even conducting research on resident birds like the house sparrow and starling to find out why they’re declining. Information from this research will help us to understand how to help them. 

One of the biggest parts of our work is to develop ways that farmers can help birds on their farms.  By working with farmers, we’re helping to restore the numbers of countryside birds.  But farmers are facing volatile times, and we need farmers to be adequately rewarded for wildlife-friendly farming. Over the next few months, the European Commission will be finalising its budget, including how much it will pay to farmers for measures which help wildlife and the countryside.  We’re campaigning to ensure that those payments for wildlife-friendly farming are not only protected but boosted to enable farmers to do more to conserve our countryside and wildlife.

It’s entirely possible that in 2020, we could have more farmland birds than we do today.  Yes, more lapwings, more turtle doves, and more yellow wagtails.  Farmers and conservationists have the desire, we’re completing the research, so all that’s lacking is the political will to help breathe the life back into our countryside.

Easily said. We now need to make it happen.

And finally, many congratulations to all those in the BTO, the JNCC and the RSPB for producing this report.  And more applause for the hundreds of volunteers who helped to provide the data.