Moorland bird survey results - some like it wet

As summer ends, breeding bird surveys this spring give us new evidence that our restoration of blanket bog is helping breeding wading birds.

We only fully survey the moorland every 5 years, and carry out a sample survey annually, but this year, aided by extra coverage thanks to Gareth's  'WREN' volunteers, and surveys as part of the RSPB's Curlew Trial Management project, 90% of the blanket bog habitat, and close to 80% of the breeding wader habitat at Dove stone has been surveyed.  We'd particularly like to thanks the volunteers who helped, who have all volunteered on our Sphagnum Project "Spreading the Moss", led by project officer Gareth Roberts, and funded by WREN, the Waste and Recycling Environment Trust.  The surveys involved the team in walking an area of over 26 km squares.  To give an idea of the scale of the area covered, this is equivalent to more than 3,714 football pitches, sometimes with long walks in before the survey even started. There were some beautiful mornings to be out on the hills, but some cold, windy and foggy days too.

We have a better picture of how our moorland birds are faring and can make some comparisons with the last full survey in 2014 and earlier population estimates.  Many a mile tramped, but what did we find?

• Dunlin edge close to 50 pairs.  The 49 pairs found this year is up from 39 pairs in 2014, and up from only 7 pairs in 2004.  Given that the entire Peak District National Park population was estimated at 67 pairs and declining in 2004, it is further evidence of quite a remarkable change in fortunes for this small wading bird that likes wetter blanket bog. 
• Golden plover, the most widespread wading bird of blanket bog, reached 110 breeding pairs, up by a fifth on 2014's 92 pairs, and nearly twice the 2004 figure of 59 pairs.
• Curlew had a small increase since 2014, up 2 pairs on the surveyed area to 36 pairs, but up from 27 pairs on this area in 2010. Curlew are possibly the number one UK bird conservation priority, given a 48% decline recorded between 1995 and 2014, and that we support more than 20% of the world population.  Dove Stone is part of the RSPB's UK wide Curlew Trial management Project, working to identify how to best protect and restore populations of these wonderful birds.
• Taken together, the moorland breeding wader bird population estimate for Dove Stone for these three species has risen from 93 pairs in 2004 to 195 pairs this year

 A dunlin keeping a watchful eye, photographed by our contract bird surveyor Geoff Carr

Wetter is Better

April and May saw very little rain this year, and much of the moorland was a crunchy dry underfoot, but places where there has been work to make the bog wetter again, particularly where heather bales have been used to hold water back, stayed wet.  In early June, these wet areas were alive with dunlin, golden plover and curlew, with evidence of many young birds close to fledging.   This ties very much with research that shows that crane-flies numbers are higher in wet peat; emerging crane-flies are the key food for many blanket bog birds.    

Teal bred in a number of these areas, and with females sploshing away to distract us from ducklings, plover piping, dunlin nervously watching, snipe drumming overhead, they were all signs our bog is becoming a wetland again.  And when we mapped dunlin that were  alarm-calling with young, there was a clear association with these heather bale and gully blocked re-wetted areas.  The return of Sphagnum mosses, such a focus of work, will likewise keep the peat wet, and is putting us on the long-term goal of a Sphagnum-dominated bog again.

So, there's quite a few folk, especially local volunteers and UU work parties, who have sunk to their knees in wet peat wrestling with a heather bale, or planted their umpteenth Sphagnum clump of the day, can take some satisfaction that their hard work is making a difference. 

picture credit; Ian Hughes