A 1.25 MILLION Euro EU Life+-funded project will help farmers in the Avon Valley between Salisbury and Christchurch reverse the fortunes of the much revered lapwing, which has suffered a dramatic decline over the past 20 years.

The species is red-listed as a bird of conservation concern in the UK and conservationists believe that as well as habitat loss, predation of nests by foxes and crows is a major factor limiting lapwing recovery.

The project, which involves 35 farmers, is being managed by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), in partnership with the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust (HIWWT) and community planning organisation Planning for Real.

The Avon Valley has historically supported nationally-important populations of breeding waders, including lapwing, redshank and common snipe.

In the 1980s, the valley was one of the top eight lowland wet grassland sites for breeding waders in the UK.

However, despite habitat improvements aimed at waders, populations of lapwing have fallen from 260 breeding pairs in the 1980s to about 90 last year.

The key aim of the four-year Waders for Real project is to increase the breeding success of lapwings and redshank, so that more young are fledged and numbers of breeding pairs start to increase.

Currently in lowland England, breeding wader populations are only being maintained on nature reserves.

This project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of restoring wader populations in the wider countryside by implementing a combination of habitat improvements and measures to reduce nest and chick predation.

It is hoped the experience gained will feed into future Government agri-environment schemes.

Dr Andrew Hoodless, head of Wetland Research with the GWCT, has been monitoring the plight of waders in the valley and explains the urgency of this project: “In common with other wetland areas, the numbers of breeding waders in the Avon Valley has declined dramatically since the early 1980s.

“Monitoring has recorded lapwing declines of 64 per cent, redshank of 75 per cent and snipe of 97 per cent. Despite the farmers in the valley carrying out a variety of habitat restoration measures over the last 20 years, there has been no reversal of these declines.”

Monitoring of lapwing nests using temperature loggers indicates that in the Avon Valley 61 per cent of nesting attempts fail and that 82 per cent of nest failure is caused by predation, particularly by foxes at night and crows and gulls during the day.

Dr Hoodless said: “The project is challenging because we are working across such a large area.

“Our data on lapwing breeding success, collected on 15 farms within the Avon Valley, clearly show that poor breeding success is driving the decline.

“Lapwing productivity here has averaged just 0.41 fledged young per pair and this is well below the threshold average of 0.70 fledged young per pair needed to maintain a stable population.”

Initially, the GWCT and the HIWWT will be working intensively with farmers to create four “hot spot” areas for re-colonisation and will provide comprehensive advice to the remaining farmers within the Avon Valley. Within these “hot spot” areas, farmers will implement habitat management to improve brood rearing areas, but also to minimise predator access.

Monitoring of predator numbers will help identify habitat manipulation on a site specific basis and non-lethal measures, such as nest cages to protect eggs from foxes and crows, will be deployed.

Dr Hoodless said: “This innovative four-year project is significant.

“There is no doubt that lapwings and other waders are in serious trouble.

“We have mostly identified the causes, but we need to work more closely with farmers to come up with practical and effective solutions for farmland outside of nature reserves. Guidance that can be tailored to individual circumstances as well as the commitment of farmers to reversing declines, will be crucial to securing the future of these wonderful birds.”