Topics

• Birds and people
• Climate change
• Conservation
• Demographics
• Farmland
• Habitats
• Marine
• Migration
• Monitoring
• Non-natives
• Other wildlife
• Predators
• Renewables
• Species interactions
• Technology
• Tracking
• Upland
• Urban
• Wetland
• Wildlife health
• Woodland

BTO research is making a significant contribution towards understanding the causes of breeding wader declines, and identifying effective conservation solutions.  

Waders in decline

The UK’s upland, grassland and farmland habitats host important populations of breeding waders – for some species, such as Curlew and Oystercatcher, some of the largest populations in all of Europe. However, from their peak numbers in the early part of the 20th century, many of these species are now in trouble. Results from the Breeding Bird Survey and Bird Atlas 2007-11 highlight the declining populations and range reductions of species such as Lapwing, Curlew, Redshank, Snipe and Oystercatcher across much of the UK. Analyses of these long-term monitoring data, together with species- and habitat-specific research have demonstrated several key drivers of declines:

• Loss and deterioration of breeding habitat as a result of climate change and recently-adopted agricultural practices, such as conversion of traditional meadows to intensive grassland monocultures;
• Reduced productivity (survival of eggs and chicks) because of losses due to agricultural activities, greater predator numbers and increased vulnerability of eggs and chicks to predation in degraded habitat.

BTO research is making a significant contribution towards understanding the causes of breeding wader declines, and identifying effective conservation solutions. Monitoring and scientific evidence will be central in informing policies targeted at improving wader breeding habitat and reducing losses of eggs and chicks in agricultural landscapes, and increasing the resilience of breeding habitats to climate change. Similarly, impartial science will play a key role in identifying the causes of high predator numbers in different landscapes.

Working together for waders

BTO works with partners across a broad range of stakeholders; this collaborative approach plays a key role in delivering effective conservation solutions for the UK’s breeding waders.

• We are evaluating the effectiveness of agri-environment schemes and other conservation management tools for breeding waders, both in the UK and more widely in Europe.
• We are working with partners across diverse sectors, from government to game managers, to understand the role of predation in wader population declines.
• We are engaging with and supporting local stakeholder groups in developing monitoring programmes for wader populations.
• We are working with stakeholders to identify the vulnerability of upland waders to climate change and how conservation management can be adapted in response.

BTO’s important role in partnership-working for breeding waders reflects our well-respected position as an organisation delivering impartial scientific evidence. This vital position will inform sustainable conservation strategies going forward, given a range of diverse views and the potential conflicts with other land management objectives such as woodland expansion, grouse moor management and catchment-scale flood management.

Our research aims

Developing realistic strategies to support sustainable, resilient populations of breeding waders needs to be underpinned by monitoring and impartial scientific evidence. In order to enable this, we aim to:

• Engage, support and advise a diverse group of stakeholders in monitoring breeding waders;
• Act as an impartial hub for the collation, communication and dissemination of information on breeding waders;
• Review and synthesise evidence from across stakeholder groups on the causes of change and the effectiveness of conservation interventions;
• Identify and communicate the tools required for supporting sustainable populations of breeding waders in diverse landscapes to a range of audiences, which can be incorporated in land use and conservation policy.

These core objectives aim to establish a strong legacy of mechanisms and networks that will continue engagement, collaboration, science and conservation action for breeding waders into the future.

BTO’s important role in partnership-working for breeding waders reflects our well-respected position as an organisation delivering impartial scientific evidence.