Wildlife trust hits its £2,000 target to help protect lapwings
EFFORTS to protect an endangered bird species at a South Wales nature reserve have been given a boost following a successful donation drive by a wildlife charity.
The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales (WTSWW) successfully reached its £2,000 target and has begun installing a safe nesting spot for the declining lapwing at its Parc Slip Nature Reserve in Bridgend.
The charity says it is very grateful for everyone’s donations, which are already being put to use.
In a story on its website, it said: “We would like to deeply thank everyone who supported this project and donated to the cause.
“The lapwing raft is now being installed on the northern wetlands and will have a couple of weeks to ‘bed in’ before the lapwings are expected to arrive at Parc Slip.”
Lapwing habitats have been disappearing from the Welsh landscape due to farming, which has resulted in a drastic decline of the bird in Wales.
Parc Slip had up to 19 pairs of breeding lapwings in the mid-1990s but, in spring 2014, it had only one known pair.
An artificial floating island for the endangered bird has now been constructed and floated out to water.
Lapwings are due to arrive this month at the reserve, where it is hoped they will lay their eggs and hatch their chicks.
The nesting spot will be out of reach to land-based predators and lapwings will be able to fend off any aerial threats.
The next stage is to fix the island to the bottom of the lake ready for the birds to use.