NatureScot has just released a report based on the WeBS survey results identifying declines in wader numbers and suggesting, amongst other causes, the impact of climate change.
Someone from the shooting industry has scoffed at that part of the argument and claimed that no wader chicks survived at Loch Leven this year because of a lack of predator controls. Your Loch Leven information has sections on the successful breeding of Lapwing and Snipe on your part of the reserve, hopefully replicated over the entire area.
I never believe claims made by the shooting industry because, no matter how respectfully you ask for independent confirmation of their assertions, they are never forthcoming. The implication is always that in order for waders to breed successfully you need to slaughter all and any predatory species. Presumably that would mean the extirpation of gulls and crows at Loch Leven.
I always see these as thinly disguised attacks on the RSPB for daring to campaign against criminal and environmentally damaging activities associated with the shooting industry.
What is your understanding of the success or otherwise of breeding waders at Loch Leven this year?
Is there any source for records from previous years?
My interest is as a lover of waders involved in a lowland Curlew monitoring project in Wiltshire.