One of the old Lancashire names for the Lapwing is Tewit. In a former life, when I was the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group's (FWAG) Farm Conservation Adviser for Lancashire, Greater Manchester, and Merseyside, our local membership magazine for our farmer members was 'The Tewit'. Sadly, Lapwings have dramatically declined in the UK, and are on the red list of the Birds of Conservation Concern (BoCC).
Between 1967 and 2022, there has been a 62% decrease in the UK breeding population of Lapwing, and between 1996/97 and 2021/2022, a 46% decrease in winter population. So you can see that they are struggling.
The BTO states that there is good evidence that declines have resulted from habitat loss and
degradation due to changes in agricultural practice, in particular
change from spring to autumn sowing, drainage of grasslands and loss of
mixed farmland, which have led to breeding productivity dropping below a
sustainable level. Chick mortality is thought to be the main
determinant of poor Lapwing productivity, and therefore of population
decline.
There
is a good deal of research supporting the hypothesis that habitat loss
and degradation due to the intensification of farming have reduced
breeding productivity. These changes include extensive drainage, increased use of pesticides
and fertilisers, re-seeding, earlier and more frequent mowing, increased
grazing pressure and loss of spring cereals. Increases in intensity of
grazing have reduced the habitat quality for Lapwing,
whilst fertilisation has led to earlier spring grass growth, earlier
cutting dates and higher stocking levels, which have increased egg and
chick mortality and reduced relaying opportunities. Drainage and loss of wet features on grassland have also had a negative impact, reducing food supplies.
Loss
of mixed farming systems and extensive grazing have reduced the
availability of high-quality foraging habitat close to nesting habitat,
i.e. unimproved pasture and meadows, to birds breeding in arable areas,
resulting in reduced breeding success.
Lapwing
population declines may also be explained partly by increased nest
predation rates, resulting from habitat changes due to agricultural
intensification. Long-term nest record card analysis has shown that the proportion of
nests lost to predators was substantially higher in the 1990s than in
previous decades.
Recent
empirical evidence suggests that levels of predation on wader nests are
unsustainably high in many cases, even in some situations where
breeding habitat is otherwise favourable. Laidlaw et al. found that nest predation rates in wet grassland increased as the
distance from patches of taller vegetation increased, and suggested that
the distribution and activity of predators might be affected by the
vegetation. Small mammal activity was higher in tall vegetation,
particularly later in the breeding season, hence foxes in the vicinity
of vegetation patches may be attracted to them and away from Lapwing
nests and chicks. Predation rates are also higher in areas with low Lapwing density.
A
Danish study found a negative correlation between annual predation
rates and the numbers of breeding Lapwing, suggesting that birds nesting
at higher densities may be more efficient at defending against
predators, and hence that declines could make populations even more vulnerable if they also lead to lower nesting densities. McCallum et al. found that Lapwing density was greatest at higher elevation, but only
where soils were less peaty and less acidic, opening the way to trials
of whether soil amendments such as liming could contribute to
conservation management for breeding Lapwings and other species of
concern that depend upon soil-dwelling invertebrates. Declines among
Lapwings are unlikely to be ameliorated by either habitat improvement or
predator control in isolation, however.
There is lots of good information there, and I couldn't disagree with any of it. On the farm near Slaidburn, in Bowland, where I manage the conservation interests, we are attempting to 'farm' waders. The farming is now geared up solely to support breeding waders. We no longer carry out any spring mechanical operations, so, no rolling or chain harrowing of meadows. Drains have been blocked, and numerous scrapes, and other wetland features have been created. On the fields where waders are nesting, we remove all livestock until the chicks are well-grown, or often fledged. We are working with the RSPB on Curlew on the farm, and any nests that are found, an electric predator-proof fence is erected around the nest. This helps to ensure that all viable eggs (some can be infertile) hatch. In addition to this, we don't cut any meadows until at least the 31st July, and even later if birds are still present.
I mention this in connection with a number of Lapwing chicks that Gail and I ringed at the farm at the end of April. On that morning, we managed to ring 12 chicks, which was four broods; a brood of four, three, one (there was more that we could not find), and four. Fingers crossed that they fledge okay.
All the habitat management work/practices that we have set up at the farm, will hopefully give the birds half a chance. In addition to the Lapwings, of which we have about 17 - 20 pairs, we have 1 - 2 pairs of Common Sandpipers, 11 - 15 pairs of Curlews, 7 - 10 pairs of Oystercatchers, 2 pairs of Redshanks, 4 pairs of Snipes, and one pair of Little Ringed Plovers.
Since I last posted, I have had our moth trap out in our Thornton Cleveleys garden ten times, and during that time we have captured 123 moths of 25 species, so it has been fairly quiet. Our totals are 19 Australian Orange-tips, eight Bee Moths, two Brimstones, two Brown House Moths, two Common Pugs, an Elephant Hawk-moth, four Flame Shoulders, a Freyer's Pug, three Garden Carpets, nine Heart and Darts, two Hebrew Characters, 50 Light Brown Apple Moths, a Marbled Orchard Tortrix, a May Highflyer, a Poplar Grey, a Poplar Hawk-moth, two Rustic Shoulder-knots, a Scalloped Hazel, a Shuttle-shaped Dart, a Silver Y, a Small Square-spot, a Swallow Prominent, a Vine's Rustic, three White Ermines, and four White-shouldered House Moths.
At the beginning of the month I had a walk through the County Wildlife Site, Larkholme Grasslands, a stretch of species rich grassland on the coast. There wasn't a great deal flowering, other than Silverweed, Bird's-foot Trefoil, Sea Campion, Ribwort Plantain, Thrift, Ragged Robin, Common Mouse-ear, and Smooth Sow-thistle.
There were quite a few 'white' butterflies on the wing, with five Large Whites, and 22 Small Whites. Later in the month, this ratio wold reverse.
Continuing with the 'flowering' theme, a walk along the estuary from the Quay produced Hedge Mustard, Elder, and Dove's-foot Cranesbill. The following day we were at Rossall Point, and we added Hoary Cress and Sea Radish to the flowering list. We had a pair of Stonechats, and a Meadow Pipit carrying food; obviously there was a nest nearby.
On 6th May we carried out our first check of our Pied Flycatcher boxes in the Hodder Valley. In terms of box occupation, we recorded five Pied Flycatchers, a Nuthatch (female sitting), five Blue Tits, and a Great Tit. We managed to lift one of the female Pied Flycatchers off the nest, and as she was un-ringed, we ringed her.
We
had two boxes with Pipistrelle sp. bats in, and when I posted a picture
of one on social media, a good friend of mine thought it was a Soprano
Pipistrelle based on the pale colouration of the face. We were surprised
on checking one box to find a brood of ten Great Tits that were at
least a week old. Without checking my master spreadsheet, they were at
least a couple of weeks early.
As
we check the boxes, we try and record what we see and hear in the
woodland and we recorded two singing Chaffinches, two singing
Goldcrests, five or six singing Pied Flycatchers, a singing Chiffchaff, a
Speckled Wood butterfly, a male Orange-tip butterfly, a singing
Blackcap, a Buzzard, a Siskin, and a singing Nuthatch.
The following day I carried out the second breeding wader survey on my client's farm in Bowland with some friends/colleagues from the RSPB. On my survey area I recorded eight Oystercatchers (two incubating eggs), seven Lapwings (three alarm calling birds, so they will have had chicks), six Curlews (one on nest), four Snipes (two drumming and one chipping), a Common Sandpiper, and a Redshank.
I had the male Cuckoo singing, and I also heard the 'bubbling' call of a female, so that was good. At least four Sedge Warblers, seven Willow Warblers, three Chaffinches, a Whitethroat, and two Garden Warblers were singing. I also had a very good count of 32 Brown Hares, with the management we carry out for the waders, benefiting the Hares as well.
We were back along the Quay and estuary again the following day, and it was good to see two male Common Blue butterflies. As we tried to photograph one of them, the other would continually dive bomb it, until eventually they would both be in the air sparring with each other!
A number of Oystercatchers were flying downstream from their high tide roost, and with them were four Bar-tailed Godwits, and a Whimbrel.
On the 9th May, Gail and I had a ringing session at the Nature Park. We ringed four birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):
Whitethroat - 1 male
Blackcap - 1 male
Reed Warbler - 1 male (1 male)
Blackbird - 1 female
Wren - (1 male)
Throughout the morning a number of warbler species were singing, and we recorded four Sedge Warblers, a Chiffchaff, three Cetti's Warblers, two Blackcaps, and three Whitethroats.
Out on the pools a number of Gulls were continually fighting in to bathe, before moving off to feed again, and we counted four Great Black-backed Gulls, 137 Herring Gulls, and four Lesser Black-backed Gulls. In addition to the Gulls on the pools we had two pairs of Tufted Ducks, two Canada Geese, singles of Great Crested and Little Grebe, 17 Coots with 3 young, a Greylag Goose, a Mute Swan, a Grey Heron, nine Mallards and a male Wigeon.
The following day we checked our Tree Sparrow boxes on our good friend's farm near Nateby. With all the warm weather we have been having, the Tree Sparrows had started nesting early, and they had fledged. However, it was good to see that they had been successful. We checked the Kestrel box, and there was a clutch of six warm eggs, so the female is now incubating her full clutch. They should all hatch on or around 31st May, so we will check them again shortly after that.
Mid-month, Gail and I planned to have a walk through the dunes at Fleetwood. It was mid-morning when we got to the car park at Rossall Point, and as the tide was running in, we decided to have a look at the wader roost instead. It was warm, and the wind was a stiff easterly.
We were there for a couple of hours, and there was a continual passage east of Swallows in ones and twos. In addition to the Swallows moving, we had at least 29 Red Admirals come in-off the sea, and head south over the dunes. There were also lots of 'white' butterflies on the wing, and visiting the Sea Radishes that were flowering in profusion, and we had 57 Large Whites, and seven Small Whites.
The waders started off on the rock groynes, but as the tide ran in they were pushed along the groynes, until there was no groyne left, and they were then roosting on the shore.
We enjoyed the sound of them, as much as the spectacle, with the constant contact calls, getting louder, as they got nearer. And the plumage. Dunlins looking dapper with their black bellies, some of the Sanderlings looking all spangly, pin sharp Ringed Plovers, and the Turnstones in full technicolour orange! We felt that it was a privilege to be in the company, just for a short while, of these globe-trotting sprites, as they rested on our shore on their way to the Arctic.
A Whimbrel appeared on one of the old wooden groynes, looking like Gulliver amongst Lilliputian Turnstones. In fact, the Whimbrels sudden appearance on the groyne, momentarily spooked the smaller waders.
Our
wader totals were something in the region of 439 Dunlins, 216
Sanderlings, 153 Ringed Plovers, three Knots, 29 Turnstones, and the
aforementioned Whimbrel.
A couple of days later we carried out our second check of our Pied Flycatcher boxes in the Hodder Valley. I've mentioned in previous posts, that we are part of a Bowland wide Retrapping Adults for Survival (RAS) project with the BTO. The aim of this project is to try and catch and ring all the adults in the population that we are studying, with the aim of recapturing them each year, to provide important information on survival. We can lift the females off the nest when they are incubating eggs, but to catch the males we have to wait until the young have hatched, and we can set a trap to catch the males as they bring food for the young into the nest box.
We managed to lift one female off the nest on our first visit, and we lifted two females off the nest this time, so that was three out of five so far. We also managed to trap one of the males as well. We ringed broods of six Nuthatches, broods of 11, 8 & 10 Blue Tits, and a brood of eight Great Tits. We also had four Pipistrelle bats roosting in our boxes!
Walking round the woodland we recorded a Large White, a singing Willow Warbler, a singing Chaffinch, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, two singing Blackcaps, a Red Admiral, a singing Garden Warbler, and a singing Song Thrush.
On 22nd May we carried out our third check of our Pied Flycatcher boxes. We managed to catch and ring two more male and female Pied Flycatchers, and we ringed a brood of nine Blue Tits. We had a couple of Kingfishers flying up and down the river, but sadly we mainly heard them, with just brief views.
Six days later we completed our fourth check of our Pied Flycatcher boxes. We were aiming to catch the last two adult males, but we were unsuccessful, so we will hopefully have one more opportunity next week. We ringed 30 Pied Flycatcher chicks, including a brood of nine, which is large, as the average brood size is seven. One brood of Pied Flycatchers were too small to ring, so we will hopefully ring them next week.
We used to have Redstarts nesting in our boxes, some years ago now. We had two pairs, this dropped to one, and then they disappeared. This morning we had a Redstart singing, but unfortunately it was on the other side of the river.
Earlier this week, Gail and I met up with a friend/colleague from the RSPB at our Curlew site in Bowland, and the aim was to check on five pairs of nesting Curlews. The first pair we checked, the chicks were in the process of hatching, so we will return in a few days to check on them.
We had two pairs where we could only find one chick from each brood, and these gorgeous fluff balls were ringed. The other two pairs obviously had chicks by the way the adults were behaving, but we failed to find them. Again, we will return in a few days to check again.
We found a pair of Oystercatchers on two warm eggs. The usual clutch size is three, so we suspect that this pair had lost an egg to a predator. In fact, this pair had obviously started again, as a couple of weeks ago they were on three eggs, and the nest scrape was in a different position.
Close by was a Lapwing incubating four eggs. This was unusual as they were on shingle, and also it is late. Again, it is probably a pair that have lost at the egg stage, and have laid again. We did wonder whether locating their nest close to the Oystercatcher was a conscious decision, in that Oycs are very good at driving away avian predators in particular.
A pair of Little Ringed Plovers and Common Sandpipers were on shingle on the far side of this large scrape, but based on their behaviour, they didn't look to have a nest on this scrape. The Little Ringed Plovers have been on site for several weeks now, and we haven't been able to pin them down.
This morning we completed a second breeding bird survey of a large woodland area near Oswaldtwistle. We recorded 36 species, and a few of the highlights included a male Gadwall, two Great Spotted Woodpeckers, nine singing Willow Warblers, five singing Chiffchaffs, a singing Sedge Warbler, six singing Blackcaps, a singing Garden Warbler, a singing Whitethroat, a singing Goldcrest, 27 singing Wrens (yes, 27!), a Treecreeper, two singing Song Thrushes, a singing Mistle Thrush, and 10 singing Robins.
That brings me right up to date. The forecast is looking unsettled for next week, and I just hope that our Pied Flycatchers are finding enough food to feed their chicks. We're into June now, and by the end of the month it will be the start of autumn in the bird world!
