Electric Lapwings

The Lapwing population in the UK has been declining rapidly over the last 50 years.  Since 1960, the population in England has fallen by 80%.  It is now red listed and a priority for the RSPB.  This decline is mostly due to the changes in agricultural practices over this time period; crops planted in autumn are too tall when the birds are looking to nest.  There has also been a big loss of wet grassland areas to arable farming as drainage methods have got better, and increased use of pesticides have reduced the invertebrates that these birds feed upon.  Pulborough Brooks and Amberley Wildbrooks are good examples of sites that were once heavily drained to allow grazing.  Through our ownership we have been able to increase the amount of land available for lapwing to breed on in the Arun Valley.

Female Lapwing brooding chicks at Pulborough Brooks

They have fairly specific requirements for nesting too, which we try to achieve through our management techniques.  They require short vegetation when laying eggs, as this enables them to see predators approaching.  We graze and mow our fields during the summer and autumn to help achieve this, along with allowing winter flooding, which will kill some of the vegetation to create bare areas of ground. 

Once the eggs have hatched, the chicks move to areas of longer grass and rush for concealment and we try to maintain high water levels, as wet areas have higher densities of easily-accessible invertebrates for food. 

One of the biggest losses of eggs and chicks here at Pulborough Brooks (and across the UK) is predation, which is mostly by foxes and crows.  As we have an active badger population on site too, it is also possible they will take eggs; I’m sure you will remember last year’s Springwatch footage of a badger feasting on wader eggs at Minsmere!  To try and reduce losses from foxes and other mammal predators, we’re trying something that is new to here, but has been extensively tested at other RSPB sites across the UK:  an anti-predator electric fence. 

David and I discuss the intricate details of wiring.  

The volunteers and I spent the 2 weeks before Easter this year out on the South Brooks installing this fence.  Here are some electric fence facts:

• It is 1.3km long and protects an area just shy of 10ha (25 acres in old money)
• It is composed of eight strands of wire and one strand of white rope.  The white rope is to make it more visible to deer, so they can avoid it more easily.
• Four of the wires are live, while the remaining five are connected to the earth.  This means if an animal touches both a live wire and an earth wire, the circuit is completed and they receive a shock.
• At my last check, it is putting out a voltage of 8.9kV and I can tell you from personal experience that this is quite a punch! 

The fence, stretching off into the distance

• However, it is only powered by a 12V battery, which is charged up by a solar panel. 
• It is only a temporary fence; we will have to dismantle it in July when we want to graze these fields, so it is not damaged by the cattle.  In March next year we will put it back up, in time for the next breeding season. 

We’ll be monitoring the protected area for lapwing nesting, attempts by predators to penetrate it and also the fence itself, so you may see the wardening team or volunteers out and about, from Hail’s View.