Avon Valley lapwing numbers up

A remarkable project has reversed the downward trend of lapwing and other waders in the Avon Valley.

The LIFE Waders for Real project was set up by the GWCT, bringing together 40 local land managers between Salisbury and Christchurch. A booklet, Saving our lapwing: a guide to successful working conservation, charts their success and shares the conditions required for lapwing to thrive.

GWCT chief executive Teresa Dent said, “We could no longer bear to see the numbers of breeding lapwing on our own doorstep go down and down.”

The project has increased the number of lapwing in the Avon Valley from 61 pairs in 2015 to 105 in 2019. Breeding success has also been improved. A local population must fledge an average of

0.7 chicks per pair each year to remain stable. Lapwing productivity was as low as 0.4 young per pair prior to the project but by 2019 the figure was 0.96. There has also been great success with the redshank population, with an increase from 19 pairs in 2015 to 35 in 2019.

“The project wouldn’t have worked without the farmers and gamekeepers driving it,” said project leader Lizzie Grayshon.

‘Saving our lapwing’ is available for £5 from gwctshop.org.uk; tel 01425 652381.