Making Farms Work For Lapwing

In Wiltshire we are lucky enough to have breeding Stone-Curlew, the Wessex population has been overseen by an RSPB project for many years. To help the Stone-Curlews farmers are encouraged to leave plots of bare earth on their fields to provide nesting areas for them.

These plots are also used by Lapwing and may be key to helping this rapidly declining wader recover and increase. It is widely acknowledged that, for Lawping, the fallow lots are only part of the solution and that on their own the plots are not enough. Therefore many farmers are taking extra measures to help protect them. One such measure is putting small electric fences around the plots with Lapwings nesting to help keep out mammalian predators and improve breeding success.

Research has shown that Lapwing nesting on these fallow plots have a higher nest survival rate than in normal fields and that electric fences can also help improve the survival of nests. However less than 9% of chicks survive regardless of whether it is on a plot of not. This is because upon hatching the parent birds lead the chicks away to the nearest area of cover, this will be outside of any protection given to the plot and increases rick of predation. 82% of chick mortality is due to predation.

Therefore, the survival of chicks is considered on the most important factor that is stopping the populations recovering. To help tackle this new options for agri-environment schemes may be needed and the farm landscape may have to incorporate more areas of rough vegetation to provide cover, protection and good feeding opportunities for the chicks.