Breeding Wader visits on BBS squares

Breeding Wader visits on BBS squares

Volunteers completed additional monitoring visits on Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) or Waterways Breeding Bird Survey (WBBS) sites where they already recorded breeding Curlew, Golden Plover, Lapwing and Oystercatcher on their core visits. 

Thanks to the dedication of BBS and WBBS wader volunteers, additional Breeding Wader visits were carried out at a remarkable 138 sites between 2021 and 2022. These visits recorded 17 wader species, listed in order from most records to fewest: Curlew, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Snipe, Golden Plover, Redshank, Common Sandpiper, Ringed Plover, Avocet, Greenshank, Little Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Whimbrel, Green Sandpiper, Ruff, Little Stint, and Sanderling. 

Please note: this project is now complete. A huge thank you to every volunteer who contributed to this pilot.

Methods

Volunteers completed additional monitoring visits on Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) or Waterways Breeding Bird Survey (WBBS) sites where they already recorded breeding Curlew, Golden Plover, Lapwing and Oystercatcher on their core visits. Depending on species and location, these additional visits were undertaken from late May to the end of June. 

The additional Breeding Wader (BW) Visits follow the same basic methodology as core visits, with some important differences:

  • Only wader species are recorded on BW Visits
  • Extra information is recorded about wader behaviour and the presence of young

For more information, please refer to the project instructions. 

Findings

The efforts of our volunteers have already made a real difference. By analysing all the data they collected, we found clear patterns showing that extra monitoring visits to sites with breeding waders can reveal important information about wader breeding success, especially for Curlew, one of the UK’s highest conservation priority species.

Volunteer Breeding Wader visits have helped us identify where we should focus our next phase of work: partnering with people who already monitor wader breeding success closely, and adding BBS-style surveys so we can directly compare the two   
approaches. This will help us further understand how simple BBS measures can support national monitoring, including the forthcoming UK Curlew Species Action Plan, which sets key targets for Curlew breeding success.  

A huge thank you to every volunteer who contributed to this pilot. Your work is shaping the future of wader conservation.

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