The Glasgow Naturalist (2014) Volume 26, Part 1, 41-50 The Clyde Valley Wader Initiative: Table 1. Trend ofbreedingwaders in the UK (Risely etal. 2012). How applied ecology is informing Breeding waders Population trend the conservation ofwaders in (1995-2011) South Lanarkshire Curlew -45% Lapwing -41% TobyWilson1 and Dan Brown2 Oystercatcher -16% Redshank -42% iConservation Officer, RSPB Scotland, 10 Park Snipe +8* Quadrant, GlasgowG3 6BS [email protected] *This masks a significant post-war decline (Smart et al. 2008 ). 2GloballyThreatened Species Officer, RSPB Scotland, 2 Lochside View, Edinburgh Park, Edinburgh EH12 9DH These population declines triggered a significant amount of research into breeding waders and this E-mail: [email protected] applied ecology has given us an understanding of both the needs of this group of birds and the likely drivers oftheirdecline (Sheldon et al. 2004). ABSTRACT The grassland breeding waders that the project Most species of grassland breeding wading birds focuses on, namely curlews, lapwings, ('breeding waders') have suffered dramatic declines oystercatchers, redshanks and snipe all favour in Scotland over the past 30 years and are now a slightly different habitats for foraging and nesting. priority for the work ofthe RSPB. The Upper Clyde Lapwings and redshanks generally favour shorter Valley (including the Duneaton, Elvan, Daer and swards, with few or scattered tussocks, whilst Medwin Waters and the River Clyde) continues to curlews and snipe prefer longer swards, with hold regionally, and for some species nationally, denser tussocks (Youngs, 2005). Collectively, important populations of breeding lapwing, however they tend to be associated with less oystercatcher, curlew, snipe and redshank. The intensively managed farmland, with high water Clyde ValleyWader Initiativewas instigated in 2008 levels; a degree of cover - often in the form of soft with the aim of maintaining and increasing these rush Juncus effusus and an open landscape, away populations through targeting fundingand advice to from forestry orhedgerows (Stillman etal. 2006) landowners to encourage them to undertake 'wader friendly’ farming practices, which are informed by The primary cause of the decline in breeding thelatestresearch into wader ecology. waders is thought to be habitat change and degradation, including the drainage of wetland, the INTRODUCTION conversion of arable farmland from spring to Breeding waders form an important part of the autumn cropping and the planting ofconifer forests natural heritage of our farmland and uplands and on marginal farmland has fragmented open the evocative calls and flight displays of species landscapes which waders prefer (Wilson etal. 2004, such as lapwings and curlews are often cited by Eglington et al. 2008). There is increasing evidence authors and poets as capturing the spirit of the showing predation is a proximate driver ofdeclines, countryside. Whilst there are separate trends for in the uplands, as a result of declines in predator different species, overall the populations of control, principally undertaken by game-keepers, breeding waders have declined significantly since and due to afforestation increasing the densities of the 1990’s (see Table 1). predators of open landscapes (Douglas et al. 2013, Smart et al. 2013). Climate change, and in particular Largely due to these population declines, lapwings increased rainfall at certain times ofyear, may also are included on the ‘red-list’ of high conservation be putting pressure on wader populations (Hulme, concern and curlews, oystercatchers, redshanks and 2005). snipe are included on the 'amber-list' of medium conservation concern in the assessment of the Previous Studies in the Clyde Valley status of birds in the United Kingdom (Eaton et al. There have been several breeding wader surveys 2009). Curlews, lapwings, redshanks and snipe have carried out in the Clyde Valley area (encompassing, been identified as a priority for the RSPB’s work in for the purpose ofthe project and this article, parts the UK. of the floodplains and surroundings of the 41 Duneaton, Elvan, Medwin and Daer Waters and them on funding bids for wader packages and River Clyde in South Lanarkshire) in the last 25 supportingappropriate bids to SRDP. years, starting with extensive surveys by local volunteer Alan Wood in the late 1980's. There were Assessing Farms then a handful ofsites surveyed in 1992/93 as part SAC acted as agents for many of the farms in the of a nationwide survey to assess key breeding Clyde Valley. Partly because it fitted with existing wader sites on Scottish in-bye farmland (O’Brien management practices and partly because of the and Bainbridge, 2001). Some of these sites were connection made between SAC and RSPB Scotland, then resurveyed in 2005 as part of a research many of these farms submitted bids for SRDP project to see how breeding waders responded to funding based on management for breeding waders. sites under agri-environment management By far the greatest form of management proposed compared to sites without agri-environment involved minimising grazing pressure on fields management (O'Brien and Wilson, 2011). Finally, entered into the bid to avoid the risk oftrampling of some farms in the area were surveyed as part of nests, as this tended to tie-in with existing farm RSPB Lapwing Recovery Project in 2007/08, which practices. Staff from RSPB Scotland visited all the assessed whether additional management for farms to discuss the management with the farmers waders, on top of agri-environment prescriptions, and assess and advise on their suitability for could result in increased breeding success. breeding waders. Factors when assessing the suitability ofthe fields were: This background survey information, coupled with - Extent of rush cover (approximately 20% - 30% the anecdotal evidence that the Clyde Valley still was positive, over40% negative) had good numbers ofbreeding waders, lead to RSPB - Areas ofsurface wateror mud (positive) Scotland prioritising the area for work and Presence ofwaders (positive) embarking on the Clyde Valley Wader Initiative; a - Proximity of hedgerows or forestry (negative) landscape-scale project with the aim of addressing and widerlandscape character the declines in breeding waders. It seems to be the case that when managing for specific species of One challenging issue that arose was that new conservation concern, working at a landscape-scale hedgerows were proposed in many of the bids to is more effective (Dallimer, 2010). This is likely to gain additional points under the RDC scoring be particularly pronounced for breeding waders, programme. Sometimes the hedgerows were to which favour open landscapes, with minimal field cross areas that were proposed to be managed for boundaries (Stillman etal. 2006). breeding waders, which would be likely to reduce their value for this group of birds. In this instance Funding RSPB Scotland advised that they should be A further driver ofthe Clyde Valley Wader Initiative removed. was the provision of funding for 'wader-friendly' management through the Scotland Rural Where RSPB Scotland considered that the Development Programme (SRDP), specifically the management proposed would be beneficial for 'Farmland Waders’ package ofthe competitive Rural breeding waders, staff wrote a letter of support to Priorities scheme, and to a lesser extent, some accompanythe bid forSRDP funding. options within the uncompetitive Land Managers Options’ scheme. SRDP is administered by the SRDP Results Scottish Government and are made up of European Since the Clyde Valley Wader Initiative began in and domestic funding. RDC differs from the other 2008 it has been involved in helping to bring 38 funds in SRDP in that it is a competitive process, farms spread over 32 farm businesses and covering whereby rural businesses prepare bids for funding, approximately 2000ha ofthe ClydeValley into some with the aim of targeting money to where it will form of management agreement for breeding achieve most benefits. The Scottish Agricultural waders. Around 98% of bids that were supported College (now SAC Consulting) acted as agents for by RSPB Scotland were successful in acquiring SRDP many farmers in the Clyde Valley and was funding and from discussions with case officers responsible for drawing up the bids for RDC assessing the funding bids, the letters of support funding. RSPB Scotland was concerned that without provided by RSPB Scotland were extremely useful additional advice, the lack of information and in providing confidence that the money was going resources available to those developing the bids or to be directed to appropriateareas. administering the funds might have meant that funding went to areas where no waders were ever Importantly, for the rural economy and for the likely to present, because for example, they were decision-makers that see this as a priority, the bids too close to forestry or on unsuitable fields for supported by RSPB Scotland broughtapproximately breeding waders. Due to this concern, RSPB £1 million into the area (based on per hectare Scotland approached SAC with the aim of advising payments over the five year period for which SRDP ran). Because breeding waders tend to favour less 42 intensive farmland (Stillman et al. 2006) many of this involves three visits at least one week apart the farms involved in CVWI are likely to be between 15 April and 19 June, with surveys mostly described as marginal within the farming system. being carried out within three hours of dawn This makes SRDP funding even more important in (Gilbert et al 1998). Habitat data is captured on a sustainingthe farmed landscape. field-by-field basis, and surveyors record sward length, ground moisture, area of rush pasture and Limitations ofSRDP management of rush pasture. Fixed-point Whilst the 'Farmland Waders’ package of the RDC photography is also used to help monitor changes in was welcome, the uptake of the range of sward structure and surface water cover. As well as management methods for waders was minimal on recording changing bird numbers and habitats, the farms in the CVWI and largely focussed on these surveys are also useful for RSPB Scotland to limiting grazing at certain times ofyear. Few farms keep in contact with farmers and discuss any issues opted to undertake more 'active' work for waders, which may arise that could influence local or such as scrape creation, ditch re-profiling or culvert national management. The farms were grouped breaking (to rewet drained areas), which enhance together into five main areas. the value of the farmland by providing feeding opportunities for waders. Anecdotally, this was In 2012 volunteers surveyed approximately 1,000 because they were not eligible for payments or hectares of farmland and recorded 186 pairs of those offered were not sufficient for it to be breeding waders. When tallying up the numbers worthwhile. A further limitation was that despite across all five groups of farms, 63 lapwing, 49 having areas holding good numbers of breeding curlew, 44 oystercatcher, 19 snipe and 11 redshank waders, some farms in the Clyde Valley could not breeding pairs were recorded. Recording snipe achieve enough points on the RDC scoring scheme accurately can prove difficult due to their secretive to make a bid worthwhile. nature, and there is always the possibilitythat snipe may be under-recorded in wader surveys. The Results and monitoring figures in Table 1 will be used as the baseline A programme of monitoring was established in population sample. We will compare surveys ofthe 2012 in order to assess the effectiveness of the same sites in future years with these figures to management. Farms are surveyed every three years provide information on the population trends using the O’Brien and Smith method for censusing across the projectarea. lowland breeding wader populations. In summary, Site name Lapwing Curlew Oystercatcher Snipe Redshank Total Watermeetings 24 22 20 7 5 78 to Elvanfoot Tarbrax 7 7 2 6 0 22 Eastertown 12 6 6 1 0 25 South Medwin 4 2 3 0 0 9 Duneaton 16 12 13 5 6 52 Water Total 63 49 44 19 11 Table 2. Breeding pairs atCVWI sites. Lapwing Curlew Oystercatcher Snipe Redshank Guideline Breeding 16.8 7.5 10.1 6.1 3.6 Density forSite to be of National Importance Watermeetings to 7.3 6.6 6 2.1 1.5 Elvanfoot Tarbrax 2.7 2.7 0.8 3.0 0.0 Eastertown 5.7 2.8 2.8 0.5 0.0 Duneaton Water 10.2 7.6 8.3 3.2 3.8 Table 3. Breeding densities (breeding pairs perkm2) at CVWI sites. 43 Breeding Densities NEXT STEPS By knowing the area of the different sites, the The farms that were successful in obtaining SRDP breeding densities can be calculated by dividing the funding will continue to be paid for undertaking number ofbreeding pairs by the area surveyed. The management for five years. Following this, it is work by O’Brien and Bainbridge (2001) produced hoped thatthere will be a new round offunding that guidelines to help determine whether a site could will continue to support the measures within the be considered of 'national importance', by 'Farmland Waders' package and ideally make producing 'densitythresholds' for each species. improvements to the requirements. In the meantime, RSPB Scotland has a small amount of Table 2. shows (a) a breakdown ofthe total number money provided by Community Windpower to pay ofbreeding pairs ofthe differentspecies at each site for additional measures, such as scrape creation (b) the total numberofbreeding waders ofall that are not funded by SRDP or target farms that species ateach site, and (c) the total numberof hold waders but did not enter in to RDC. Staff are breeding birds ofeach species across the entire currently liaising with farmers to deliver this. RSPB surveyarea. Scotland will continue to undertake monitoring of thesites. Table 3 shows the density ofbreeding pairs at each site, compared to the guideline densities for ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS nationally important sites. Instances where the We are extremely grateful to RSPB volunteers who density on the site exceeds the guideline density are all generously volunteered their time to undertake shaded in grey. So, the Duneaton Water site is of the surveys. Without their ornithological skills and national importance for breeding redshank and passion for conservation, the work would not have curlew. The South Medwin site has been omitted been possible. We are also grateful to all of the because it constituted a relatively small surveyarea: farmers and landowners who allowed access to sites need to be larger than 1km2 to provide reliable their land and showed willingness to take part in densityestimates. CVWI, and to Grant Conchie and Ken Phillips at SAC Lanark for their continued collaboration in this CONCLUSIONS project. Breeding waders are in decline across the UK. The Clyde Valley Wader Initiative has used applied REFERENCES ecology to identify important areas for this group of Dallimer, M., Gaston, K.J., Skinner, A.M.J., Hanley, N., birds and inform what management needs to be Acs, S. &Armsworth, P.R. (2010). Field-level bird maintained or put in place to ensure their numbers abundances are enhanced by landscape-scale are stabilised or increased. By working with SAC, agri-environment scheme uptake. BiologyLetters RSPB Scotland has been able to positively influence 6, 643-646. land management for waders across a sizeable area Douglas D, Bellamy P, Stephen L, Pierce-Higgins J, of land. Ongoing monitoring of the farms in the Wilson Grant M (in press). Upland land use J, Clyde Valley Wader Initiative will help to establish change drives population decline in a breeding whether the management is proving effective and if wader ofglobal conservation concern.Journalof necessary make adjustments to optimise it in the AppliedEcology future. Eaton MA, Brown AF, Noble DG, Musgrove AJ, Hearn R, Aebischer NJ, Gibbons DW, Evans A and The surveys have confirmed that some areas within Gregory RD (2009). Birds of Conservation the CVWI project host nationally important Concern 3: the population status of birds in the breeding densities for certain species (curlew and United Kingdom, Channel Islands and the Isle of redshank). We are only sampling a handful of sites Man. British Birds 102, 296-341. so there will likely be other areas also supporting Eglington, S. M., Bolton, M., Smart, M. A., Sutherland, nationally important densities. Some sites fell just W. J., Watkinson, A. R. and Gill, J. A. (2010) below these thresholds. It is important to bear in Managing water levels on wet grasslands to mind that these thresholds were based on improve foraging conditions for breeding population and site data from the early 1990's. All northern lapwing Vanellus vanellus. Journal of farmland waders (except snipe) have declined AppliedEcology47 451-458. , considerably since then, so the density threshold for Gilbert, G., Gibbons, D.W., Evans, J. (1998) Bird a site to be of national importance will have monitoring methods: a manual oftechniquesfor changed and will now be based on lowerdensities. key UKspecies. RSPB, Sandy. Hulme, P.E. (2005) Adapting to climate change: is CVWI has proved a useful advocacy tool in there scope for ecological management in the demonstrating how conservationists can work face ofa global threat?JournalofAppliedEcology positivelywith the farmingcommunity. 42, 784-794. 44 O’Brien, M & Bainbridge, I (2001) The evaluation of Endrick Water. Situated on the southern shores of key sites for breeding waders in lowland Loch Lomond it forms part of the Loch Lomond Scotland. BiologicalConservation 103, 51-63. National Nature Reserve and is a Site of Special O'Brien, M. & Wilson, J.D. (2011) Population Scientific interest, Special Area of Conservation, changes of breeding waders on farmland in Special Protection Area, and a Wetland of relation to agri-environment management. Bird International Significance under the Ramsar Study 58, 399-408. agreement. The site came into RSPB ownership in Risely, K., Massimino, D., Newson, S.E, Eaton, M .A., spring 2012 after generous donations from Musgrove, A.J., Noble, D.G, Procter, D. & Baillie, supporters of the RSPB, The National Heritage S.R. 2013. The Breeding Bird Survey 2012. BTO Memorial Fund, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) Research Report645. and The Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Sheldon, R„ Bolton, M., Gillings, S. and Wilson, A. Park (LLTNP). The management of the site is (2004), Conservation management of Lapwing through a partnership with RSPB Scotland, SNH and Vanellus vanellus on lowland arable farmland in LLTNP and it is hoped that through careful the UK. Ibis 146,41-49. management the site can give a home to nature and Smart, Amar, A., O'Brien, M., Grice, P. and Smith, K. a place for peopleto be with nature. J., (2008), Changing land management of lowland wet grasslands of the UK: impacts on snipe The broad range of habitats is one of the features abundance and habitat quality. Animal that make the site so special. Sitting on the highland Conservation 11, 339-351. boundary fault means that there are species Smart, J., Bolton, M., Hunter, F., Quayle, H., Thomas, represented at their most northerly range and G., Gregory, R. D. (2013), Managing uplands for others at their most southerly range. The Endrick biodiversity: Do agri-environment schemes Water is an obvious feature of the site and has a deliver benefits for breeding lapwing Vanellus large impact on hydrology and morphology. Despite vanellus?. Journal ofApplied Ecology 50, 794- being, only about 50km long it deposits an 804. estimated 13,800 tonnes per annum of silts and Stillman R. A., MacDonald M. A., Bolton M. R., dit gravel extending and reforming The Ring Point: a Durell S. E. A. le V., Caldow R. W. G. & West A. D. 1.6km bar created as the Endrick water meets the 2006 Management of wet grassland habitat to Loch (Mitchell 2001). reduce the impact of predation on breeding waders: Phase 1 Final Report to DEFRA < One of the key species of this river is Lampetra http://nora.nerc.ac.Uk/3393/l/WetGrasslandRe fluviatilis, river lamprey. Lamprey are a primitive pPhaselDefraBD1324 5933 FRA.pdf> family of jawless fish whose fossil record stretches (Accessed 10.9.13) back over 450 million years ago (making it the tiny Hulme, P. E. (2005), Adapting to climate change: is dinosaur ofthe title). The population in the Endrick there scope for ecological management in the is unique in the UK for its unusual behaviour. River face ofa global threat?JournalofAppliedEcology lamprey are a migratory species and spawn in 42, 784-794. freshwater. After about two years the young leave Wilson, A.M., Ausden, M. & Milsom, T.P. (2004) the rivers and head out to estuaries to reach Changes in breeding wader populations on maturity, The river lamprey in the Endrick differ in lowland wet grasslands in England and Wales: the fact that they do not mature in the saline waters causes and potential solutions. Ibis, 146 ofthe Clyde, they remain in the freshwaters ofLoch (Supplement. 2), 32-40. Lomond.where they feed mainly on another special Youngs, T (2006), Wet Grassland Practical Manual: species of the area Coregonus lavaretus, powan BreedingWaders. RSPB, Sandy, Bedfordshire. (Maitland 2007). Another species unique to the area is Rumex aquaticus, Scottish or Loch Lomond dock. As the common name suggests, within the UK, this Giant docks and tiny dinosaurs: species is limited to Loch Lomondside. Despite reaching heights of over 2m (taller than your RSPB Loch Lomond average botanist) it was not described as species in the UK until 1935. Robert Coleman Awayfrom the Endrick butstill sustained by its flow RSPB Loch Lomond, High Wards Farm, Gartocharn, are the fens and meadows ofthe site, these support a wealth ofwildlife including a nationally important AlexandriaWest Dunbartonshire G83 8SB wintering population of Anser albifronsflavirostris, Greenland white-fronted geese, Lutra lutra otter, E-mail: [email protected] breeding wading birds like Gallinago gallinago snipe and a diverse and often specialised group of invertebrates like Donacia aquatica zircon reed RSPB Loch Lomond is 237ha of mixed wetland beetle and Hydroporus rufifrons ox-bow lake diving habitats and farmland within the flood plain of the 45