Recent Events... and more to come

Farmers, keepers and bird-watchers meet to discuss wader conservation at Kinnordy Estate, 6.3.25

As part of a series of events to share knowledge and exchange ideas on wader conservation, we’ve been on the road over the last few weeks, travelling from Renfrewshire to Angus, Morayshire and the Borders. Each one of these meetings has taken a different focus, from regenerative farming methods to predator control and forest expansion. Throughout this period, practical conservationists from across the country have been engaging in conversations across several important aspects of wader work.

At Lukeston farm, there was a visit to an area of rough hill pasture and inbye grazing where highland cattle have been used to break up older stands of mature vegetation and promote soil health and invertebrates – lapwings have responded to this with great enthusiasm, and the habitat improvements have been supported by long term efforts to control predators. A few miles north of Kirriemuir at Kinnordy estate, local farmers and gamekeepers have been working together to constitute a new wader cluster on a range of arable, marginal and moorland habitats. It’s still early days for this group, but enthusiasm and participation is growing and discussions ranged from the impact of protected species on wader productivity to changes to licensing for the control of crows and mustelids.

The following day, engagement resumed on a grouse moor near Huntly where lapwing numbers have been gradually declining for many years. When added together, the attendees were responsible for the management of almost 30,000 acres of moorland, farmland and wetland – much of it based on prime areas of traditional wader habitat. Working closely together and sharing ideas, the group discussed marginal farmland and issues around wader scrapes, rush cutting and habitat management.

The most recent event was at Threepwood Farm near Galashiels, where wader conservation has been a major factor in land management for almost fifteen years. Attendees were able to see lapwing plots “in action”, with large groups of lapwings flying overhead in the cold wind.

All of these events allow Working for Waders to share ideas and information on wader conservation, but they also encourage people to have their say about local issues too. With two more events to come in the Southern Uplands before the end of March, we will take lessons learned from all this work and pass it back to government to ensure that practical, hands-on management can play a bigger and more comprehensive role in informing future policy.