Yesterday I introduced you to some of the project work that's going on in the North of Scotland to improve the fortunes of waders, bumblebees and buntings. Today, we travel East to find out what's happening there....
Farmland Bird Lifeline – recovery work for corn buntings in east Scotland
Farmland Bird Lifeline is an RSPB initiative supported by Scottish Natural Heritage. It's been running since 2002 and involves targeted advisory action and monitoring in corn bunting hotspots. Since 2005, action has focused on nesting habitats for corn buntings, particularly late cut grass and specifically sown unharvested crop mixes. 109 territories were recorded on 21 farms during 2013, an increase of five since 2012. The number of males associating with targeted conservation management was disproportionately large considering the small area occupied by these habitats.
Image: Corn bunting by Tom Marshall
For those birds that nested within management crops, success rate was high. 71% of these nesting attempts resulted in fledged young. As part of this work, we are about to embark on a three year partnership project with Marks & Spenser’s and Kettle Produce in Fife.
Tayside Wader Survey
In 2012, 77 lowland farmland sites in Tayside last surveyed in 1992 were resurveyed for five breeding wader species (curlew, lapwing, oystercatcher, redshank and snipe). Results show the number of wader pairs across the survey area declined by 35% between the surveys, and the density of waders per site declined more than the number of sites occupied by waders. Despite an overall decline in abundance, there was considerable variation between species: there were declines in lapwing (-66%), oystercatcher (-8%) and redshank (-78%), but increases in curlew (+70%) and snipe (+31%).
Image: Curlew walking in shallow water by Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
These trends in Tayside lowland farmland waders mirror national trends except for curlew, which declined nationally over the survey period. 2012 was a very wet year, and it is possible that apparent increases in curlew and snipe in the lowlands involved non-breeding birds redistributing from their upland breeding areas due to the poor weather.
In 2013, 18 sites identified from an information gathering exercise were surveyed. The data collected on these ‘new’ sites will contribute to providing a clearer picture of existing wader populations across the area. The information from both surveys will assist with conservation work on the ground, including identifying target areas for advice delivery and agri-environment schemes.
Grampian Wader & Wetland Initiative
During 2010, a partnership began between conservationists, agricultural consultants and farmers. We aim to improve and maintain the status of breeding wading birds in target areas. This aims to replicate action for breeding waders through more established projects in Strathspey, Caithness (read about these in yesterday's post) and the Clyde Valley. The project involves RSPB Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Agricultural College Consulting, CKD Galbraith, Landcare North East, other consultants and twenty farmers. During the first two years of the project we have identified wader hotspots and assessed habitat management within these areas. Short term action has involved work with agents and farmers to maximise wetland management delivery. The next step is to encourage future ‘tried and tested’ management in these key areas in preparation for the new Rural Development Program. Across all sites, 522 pairs of breeding waders were recorded in 2013.
Wader densities on the combined farms engaged in agri-environment management were higher than those on farms that were not.
Shetland Farmland Waders
The Shetland Islands are home to about nine percent of the British breeding population of oystercatchers, and between one and six percent of lapwing, snipe, curlew and redshank. These species are found mainly on croft land grazed by sheep and cattle, and the way that farmers and crofters manage this land has been crucial in maintaining healthy populations of waders.
The last Shetland-wide wader specific surveys of breeding farmland waders were carried out by RSPB in 1993. In 2013 LIFE+ funding enabled RSPB to employ a part time Wader Survey Officer to co-ordinate the resurvey of the 28 “best sites” for waders.
The sites were spread throughout the whole of Shetland and varied in area from around 30ha to 100+ ha of in-bye. Each survey site included several different land managers and a total of about 80 crofters and farmers were contacted to discuss land management for breeding waders. Surveys were carried out by an enthusiastic team of 18 volunteers from all over Shetland plus RSPB staff. RSPB standard monitoring protocols were followed with each site being surveyed in the early morning on three occasions between April and June.
Image: Pair of oystercatchers by Andy Hay
2175ha were surveyed and 918 pairs of breeding waders recorded. The average number of breeding pairs of all species for the areas surveyed was 0.422 pairs per hectare in 2013, a slight drop from the 0.468 pairs per hectare recorded for the same areas in 1993. The number of breeding pairs of waders recorded in 2013 were compared to the 1993 results for the same sites. When results from all sites are combined numbers of breeding pairs of oystercatcher and snipe recorded showed an increase. Oystercatcher increased by 34.2% and snipe increased by 17.3%. Numbers of breeding pairs of Curlew, lapwing and redshank recorded for all sites combined showed a decrease. Curlew breeding pairs dropped by 19.9%, lapwing fell by 48.6% and redshank fell by 53.9%.
We will be continuing with a slimmed down version of the Shetland Farmland Wader Project in 2014. This year as well as covering more sites previously identified as “best sites” for waders we are offering wader surveys and advice to farmers and crofters who are interested in managing their land to benefit waders through the new SRDP.