Call for Volunteers!
We need your help to care for endangered species like curlews!
Populations of wading birds like curlew, lapwing and oystercatcher have declined markedly across Scotland: since 1994, curlew have declined by 61%, lapwing by 53% and oystercatcher by 40%.
Two workshops, held earlier in 2017, (the overview report is available here) highlighted that there was wide consensus on the need to halt and, where possible, reverse these declines.
The Working for Waders Initiative has been established to bring people together to encourage new ways of thinking and working, especially through the development of collaborative activities and actions on the ground.
What is the Initiative trying to do?
Over this winter, we are focussing on two main goals:
- To identify and highlight where actions for waders are already being taken on the ground.
- To flesh-out what needs to be done in practice to take forward three key actions identified by participants at the wader workshops.
To achieve these goals we need the support and engagement of all those concerned about wader declines in Scotland.
We know that management to help protect waders is already being established at a local level across Scotland. We want to map where these actions are taking place, not only to help emphasise that there already is active management taking place on the ground, but also to help form a context and framework around which additional actions can be built.
We already have brief details of where some actions are taking place (the map as it currently stands is available here) and we thank those groups who have already submitted those details. But we know that there are others out there. So if you are involved in any local level actions for waders that we have not already been told about then please complete and return the simple form that is available here.
The workshops, held earlier this year, also identified the need for three key actions to help address wader declines:
- Delivering results-led collaborative action on the ground.
- Collating data and identifying hot spots and zones for waders.
- Raising awareness of the plight of waders and developing and sharing best practice to reverse these declines.
There is, however, a need to flesh-out how each of these key actions can actually be achieved in practice and an overview of what is expected from each Action Group is available here ->
Landscape Collaboration Action Group
Raising Awareness and Sharing Best Practice Group
We are looking for volunteers to join these Action Groups and help - over the next few months - to develop recommendations as to how each action can be delivered, including who should be involved and the resources and commitments needed.
We envisage that each Action Group will have a convenor, or ideally two co-convenors, who will take the lead in driving the work of each group forward. The current Facilitation Team will be expanded to include the co-convenors of each Action Group so that collectively we can ensure that the process remains as inclusive and cross-sectoral as possible.
Please get in touch and indicate which of the three groups you want to contribute to.