Breeding Season 2020

Curlew nest

The wader breeding season is now in full swing, and we’ve been pleased to receive reports of early lapwing broods out and about in the warm, dry weather. We’re always keen to hear from people who have seen waders breeding, particularly when the Covid-19 lockdown has made it harder to get out and enjoy the sights and sounds of spring in the countryside. If you've been lucky enough to see or hear waders this spring, please remember to share photographs or videos with others who may not have been so lucky!

A great deal of our work has had to change and be reorganised to accommodate the current lockdown conditions, and we were sorry to hear that an enormous amount of fieldwork has been cancelled in a bid to control the virus. At the same time, it’s almost business as usual for many farms and estates involved in wader conservation, and of course the spring continues regardless for wading birds. In some ways we have been heavily restricted in our work to protect waders, but there have also been opportunities to keep pushing forward along new lines. We’ll also be holding a social media event in May to gather more ideas and keep farmers and land managers engaged with our work as it progresses - more on this to come!

As we enter the third year of Working for Waders, it has been encouraging to take many of our practical, land-management based projects to the next stage. We’re keeping a steady focus on wader conservation on farmland in Lanarkshire and the Cairngorms, and much of this work is being driven forward by the collaborative effort of farmers and gamekeepers. We're getting ready to share updates and reports on this work over the next few weeks, but some of this work is very exciting and has the potential to make good progress on issues around wader breeding habitats.

On a more technical front, We’re also improving our mapping work and incorporating data from agri-environmental schemes so that we can draw links between work on the ground and with hot-spots and areas where wader activity needs to be made a priority. This kind of top-level work informs wider strategic discussions about wader conservation in Scotland.

There will be lots more updates and reports from project partners as the breeding season continues. This is a busy time of year for everybody involved in the project - we’re all keen to make the most of it!