A couple of years ago RSPB was able to purchase coastal fields bewteen Aberdyfi and Tywyn on the north side of the Dyfi estuary. Historically this area had been used by breeding waders such as lapwing however numbers had dwindled. Last year our warden team built a temporary electric fence around one of the fields to reduce predation on the small breeding wader population which had used this site for nesting. For the first time in years lapwings fledged chicks successfully here again. As with most waders lapwings are ground nesting birds and so can be very vulnerable to predation at both the egg and chick stage. This year Tom and the team have been very busy constructing a larger fence .
Work has also been undertaken to inprove the habitat for waders by installing several small pipe dams creating more wet areas important for waders to feed, on the site with the hope of even more success. This work has been carried with the help of a local farmer who has maintained the fence for us and carried out habitat management across his own fields. Fingers crossed for more success this breeding season. A traditional name for lapwings is "Peewit" taken from tha call it makes whilst flying over sites. Hopefully the sky above these fields will be full of that call soon.