Predation Management Guidance

Readers of this blog will be well aware of the importance of predation on wader eggs and chicks in driving the recent decline in the number of curlew, lapwing and many other waders in Scotland. The high numbers of predators like foxes and crows, plus increasing numbers of protected predators like badgers and pine marten are cause for concern, and each poses its own challenges – not least because the latter two are examples of species which cannot be controlled using traditional lethal methods permitted in some other cases.

Working for Waders was recently successful in a bid to the BASC Wildlife Fund, which will allow us to produce guidance on how to limit the impact of predation on breeding waders. The guidance will bring together information from the scientific literature, practicing experts and conservation bodies in an attractive and accessible format, and will be kept up to date over the coming years as experience and research informs these activities.

The guidance will cover everything from traditional legal, lethal techniques, to a variety of non-lethal methods, such as fencing (both regular and electric), habitat management and diversionary feeding. We hope that this will help practitioners successfully tackle the main obstacle preventing wader populations from recovering today, and so boost breeding waders across the country.

We hope the guidance will be ready to share later this year, and we’ll be updating partners and wader enthusiasts across Scotland as the work goes ahead.