When I join the thousands of people on the Meadows in Edinburgh this Saturday, we will all be marching to press the case for firm global action on the climate of our shared world. I hope to be joined by my daughter and her one month old son, my grandson. It‘s for his future we will be banding together. But I want him to grow up in a world that has space for wildlife too.
In Scotland we are lucky that we still have a treasure trove of wildlife riches, but we cannot take it for granted. Development, intensification of farming, and yes, climate change are already having a deep impact. Take the golden plover, a wading bird that breeds in remote upland regions of the UK on heather moorland, peatland and blanket bog. It’s a species that you very often hear long before you see, its plaintive call carrying far across the moorland. If you are lucky enough to see one in full breeding plumage it looks like a black coloured bird wearing a rather fetching white trimmed golden coat complete with a hood. Despite this superb plumage the golden plover is remarkably well camouflaged. Scotland has many of them nesting in our hills and on our blanket peatlands - but they are at risk.
Research carried out by scientists at the RSPB shows how the golden plover is threatened by the impacts of climate change in Scotland and the rest of the UK. Golden plovers feed largely on insects during the breeding season, and an important prey item, particularly for chicks, are craneflies, or daddy longlegs as they are sometimes known. Craneflies emerge in large numbers at around the same time as the plover chicks hatch - a neat adaptation that has evolved over tens of thousands of years. Our research showed that warm, dry Augusts in the previous year reduced the number of craneflies that emerged from the soil during the breeding season. This, in turn, had a negative impact on the number of adult golden plovers, most likely because it reduced the food supply available for golden plover chicks, meaning fewer of them survived to adulthood.
Warm, dry Augusts are expected to become more commonplace in some areas of Scotland as climate change continues. The research demonstrated that this could result in the decline, and even extinction, of golden plovers in some areas, particularly those occurring towards the southern edge of the species’ range. Whilst this is very worrying, other RSPB research suggests a potential solution which would help the golden plover and other upland birds in the face of these drier, warmer conditions. Restoring peatland habitats through techniques that we have trialled and shown to work, for example at RSPB Scotland Forsinard Flows reserve in Caithness and Sutherland, can increase the resilience of these upland birds to climate change. Blocking moorland ditches raises the water levels in the rich peaty soils and makes them less exposed to the effects of drought conditions in summer. Good for craneflies, and good for golden plovers. And good for the climate as the bogs stop leaking GHG gases.
As I wrote in my previous blog post peatland restoration is good for wildlife, the climate and for people. The good news is that Nicola Sturgeon agrees with me. This week, at the Natural Capital Forum in Edinburgh, she said that peatland restoration is ‘one of the best investments we can make as a society'. If, as a society, we don’t invest in these upland landscapes and put money towards peatland restoration we will lose the beautiful wildlife we love, like the golden plover. That’s why I will be marching this coming Saturday at Scotland’s Climate March. We want to save our world for people like my grandson, and nature.