If someone asked you where to go to see England’s best wetlands for wildlife, where would you suggest? The Fens? Somerset Levels?
Chances are that the valleys around the upper reaches of the Thames and its tributaries wouldn’t be the first area you’d think of. However, for waders, this is one of the best areas in southern England. In fact, there are more curlew breeding on farmland in the Upper Thames than anywhere else in southern England.And the overwhelming majority of this area is farmed. By actual, real farmers.
True, the magnificent Otmoor nature reserve does lie within the area, and is managed by the RSPB specifically for waders and other wetland specialists. But nature reserves alone will never be enough to save wildlife. For that, you need large areas of land. And in the Upper Thames, there’s over 27,000 hectares of floodplain that’s home to nature.
Many of the farmers along the Upper Thames have been quietly going out of their way for waders for years now. Over fifty of them have been keeping their pastures extensively managed, their meadows cut late to protect nesting birds, making and re-making scrapes and wet footdrains, and welcoming the volunteer surveyors that monitor the birds each spring.
Last November, my colleagues and I thought it was high time these farmers got a chance to see the overall results from their combined efforts.
Over twenty of the local farmers turned up on a cold, crisp morning to the village of Northmoor in Oxfordshire. The first fieldfares of winter were calling noisily as we climbed up onto a trailer for a tour of a nearby wet grassland site. Our host, Rob Florey, took us through the arable part of his farm, past excellent examples of hedges, buffer strips and even some wild bird seed mix.
We dismounted the trailer, and walked down towards the River Thames, where some very good-looking Ruby Red Devons were grazing. By their reaction, we were the most interesting thing they’d seen in ages. A shallow footdrain full of water ran the length of their field – a familiar sign that the RSPB’s rotary ditcher had worked here in recent years. This simple feature would provide plenty of crucial wet edge for lapwings and their chicks throughout the coming spring.
After enjoying the fresh air, we all headed back to the village hall for some extremely hearty soup and sweet, moist cake. Over the afternoon, and over coffee, we discussed how waders were faring across the Upper Thames.
Against backgrounds of national declines and a disastrous wet season in 2012, it was encouraging to see lapwing numbers seem to be roughly stable at around 100 pairs. Curlew had dipped slightly from around 50 pairs over 2005-8 to about 40 pairs, but hadn’t changed much since then. The more localised waders, redshank and snipe, were both increasing, reaching 54 and 14 pairs respectively in 2013.
It was a chance to ask these wildlife-friendly farmers what they enjoyed most about living and working in the area. What challenges did they most struggle with? What role could the RSPB take in future to support their conservation? It was a constructive and in-depth series of discussions, and my colleagues and I are looking to modify some of the regular project activities as a result.
Nearly five months on, spring is happening all around us. Farmers are busy nursing their tender crops, lambing, and the local RSPB team of staff and volunteers are gearing up for another season of wader surveying. With my 'volunteer’s hat on’, I’ll be covering a stretch of the Cherwell valley. I’m not especially looking forward to the very early starts in the cold, half-lit mornings. But the prospect of surveying for farmers in the floodplain always gets me a little excited as well. Because whether it’s s mass of hot-pink ragged robin flowers in some forgotten corner, or the silhouette of a curlew in a misty meadow, I never quite know what I might find.