Early success in campaign to save lapwings

Early success in campaign to save lapwings - Scotland’s Rural College

A project to boost the population of lapwings has reported high hatching success.

A new project designed to reverse the decline in the population of one of Scottish farmland’s most loved birds is reporting significant early progress.

Led by SAC Consulting - part of Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), together with farmers, RSPB Scotland and NatureScot, the campaign aims to boost the population of lapwings - also known as the peewit.

The population of the species has plummeted across Scotland - and the rest of the world - in recent years, despite being the focus of agri-environmental schemes.

However, a nesting management trial led by the Clyde Valley Wader Group (CVWG), with funding from NatureScot, saw around 75 per cent of nests hatched across five trial fields, compared to the typical 20 per cent or less in grazed pastures.

Jennifer Struthers, SAC Consulting’s Senior Consultant and Area Manager, said: “Farmland is critical for the birds’ future as they nest in a variety of rural habitats including wetlands, grasslands and crops. As the birds nest on the ground, they can be prone to predation, disturbance from curious livestock and agricultural operations. The result is they typically experience very low breeding success. It is impressive that groups which would normally be seen as being on opposite sides of conservation campaign debates can come together and deliver positive results for one of this country’s best loved birds.”

Kenny Johnstone from Boghouse and Eastertown farms at Crawfordjohn, who has been heavily involved in the project, said: “The Clyde Valley Wader Group has given stakeholders a much more productive, reactive, honest and enjoyable environment to work together in the best interests of wader birds. Having seen the success of a local brassica plot in the area for lapwings, we were happy to try a brassica crop on an 18-acre field at Eastertown farm which we hoped would also benefit our farming business. We have been able as a group with funding to be flexible with grazing and ploughing to encourage as much nesting and hatching success as possible and are delighted the results are looking good.”