Where Have All The Lapwings GonePosted on Wednesday May 5 10:49:00 BST 2010  In the last ten days I have travelled through Norfolk to Cambridgeshire, Birmingham to Chipping Norton and only seen one single Lapwing. The Lapwing is one of my favourite birds, in Cambridgeshire where I grew up they were as common as Blue Tits and Blackbirds, breeding abundantly on farmland and meadows alike. They are not birds solely of marsh and wetlands as some conservation organisations would like people to believe, their open country range extends from sea level to 1000m.
The BTO report of 2009 has, for the first time, the Lapwing red listed, stating a severe decline in the UK breeding population of more than 50%, over 25 years. The Dunlin has also joined the red list.
Conservation is simply not happening within Britain's principle conservation organisations and bodies, they choose to ignore the blatantly obvious, preferring idiotic flagship schemes instead; plastic Ospreys and an East Anglia Sea Eagle introduction for instance.
The reason for these drastic population decline is simple, predominantly birds of prey and badgers. I have witnessed Marsh Harries - there are over 70 breeding pairs along the Norfolk coastline, plundering Lapwing nests and harrying the chicks, Herons and Gulls join in the feast. The exploding Buzzard population is hammering Lapwings, as it is Hares, and few people dare to mention that Badgers are well known for eating ground nesting birds eggs. Farmland conservation schemes are aimed in part to provide suitable habitat to encourage the Lapwing, as they are for Skylark, Yellow Hammer, Grey Partridge and Brown Hare. However until the bird of prey issue and badger predation is addressed these and most conservation measures will not stop the desperate decline amongst species such as Lapwing, Dunlin and Curlew.
If you are reading this please act, contact your local conservation group, the RSPB and Natural England amongst others to pressure them into effective conservation action. Our ground nesting species are in dire peril. |