Nest Camera Project Pilot

Monitoring wader nests using trail cameras

Thanks to a donation we received during the winter, Working for Waders has been able to set up and run a nest camera project during the 2021 breeding season. This is a pilot scheme which works with farmers, gamekeepers and land managers across Scotland to find out more about wading birds during the breeding season. 

Many wader species are suffering from declines which are associated with a failure to rear youngsters. Breeding failures are often linked to habitat change, predation and agricultural disturbance, but the picture is extremely complicated and it varies depending upon geography and land use. Nest cameras allow us to zoom in on individual wading birds to discover more about the challenges they face at this exciting time of year. 

In late March, twenty five cameras were sent out to volunteers from Galloway to Skye, and work is now underway to locate nests and get the technology set up. Several of the cameras are already live, and we’re looking forward to seeing more footage in the coming weeks. 

Automatically activated by heat-signatures, the cameras switch on whenever they sense that waders are nearby. Once they have been set up, they can remain in situ for extended periods, minimising the risk of disturbing the birds. Some of the cameras transmit their footage directly to an online portal, and this has provided a really effective platform to monitor nests remotely. The project has already generated a number of really exciting stories, and even though we are still in the early phases of the 2021 breeding season, the footage has proved to be an excellent tool to engage people with wader conservation and find out more about the challenges faced by breeding birds. 

Our work so far has focussed on lapwing and oystercatcher nests because these species tend to lay first, but we hope to extend the work to include curlews when these birds begin to establish their nests in the next few days. One lapwing nest has already been lost to slurry-spreading, but so far we have seen birds making good progress despite some challengingly cold weather. 

This pilot project is only just beginning, but we’d like to thank Luise Janniche of Tuffies dog beds for her generous donation which has made this work possible.