New research shows rise in predators is threatening red-listed birds with extinction - Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust

A survey of ground nesting birds on around 3,000 acres of moorland in north Northumberland has shown dramatic declines of iconic threatened species 10 years after predation management ceased as part of a controlled experiment spanning two decades.

A recently published scientific paper based on the study found golden plover dropped by 81%, snipe by 76%, red grouse by 71%, lapwing by 49%, curlew by 24%, while black grouse and grey partridge went locally extinct.

Ground-nesting birds are particularly susceptible to predators and their populations can recover when predation pressure is relieved during the breeding season. Experimental legal removal of predators between 2001 and 2008 on the same experimental plots demonstrated a three-fold improvement in breeding success amongst ground-nesting birds, with subsequent increases in their abundance.

Dr Andrew Hoodless, Director of Research at the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, which carried out the experiment, said: “The declines occurred in spite of the fact that habitat remained the same, and they are part of a bigger picture mirroring downward trends among the same species across the UK. In the long-term, habitat manipulation could make breeding grounds less predator friendly, but in the meantime, without lethal control of predators at landscape scales we will see continued rapid declines and local extinctions.”

There are growing concerns that increases in generalist predators in the UK over the last few decades have contributed to declines in ground-nesting birds. National populations of carrion crows and foxes are either the highest, or among the highest, in any European country. These high densities are linked to a range of factors including an absence of apex predators, intensive agriculture, the availability of food waste in urban areas and expansion of non-native woodland, which provides protection and breeding places.