The report on Scotland’s terrestrial bird species, covering the period 1994-2016, did not make easy reading for wader lovers. All but one species was contributing negatively to the upland bird indicator, with declines of over 40% for breeding Lapwing, Curlew, Dotterel, Oystercatcher and Golden Plover. In this short blog, there are links to information that helps to explain what might be going wrong for Scotland’s waders.
The figures from the report have been update in the Breeding Bird Survey for 2018 (published 2019) and these figures are now included below. Golden Plover is no longer part of the ‘over 40%’ club.
The full report is available on the SNH website (https://www.nature.scot/information-library-data-and-research/official-statistics/official-statistics-terrestrial-breeding-birds)
The updated Breeding Bird Survey results are available on the BTO website (https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/bbs/latest-results)
One species has been increasing – Snipe up 22% *
* BBS results for Snipe for 1995-2017 revise the change figure to show an increase of 32%.
The one spot of good news is that breeding Snipe numbers in Scotland have risen over the period 1994 to 2016. This is particularly encouraging, given declines in much of the rest of Britain and Ireland, as you can see in the map alongside and read in this WaderTales blog Snipe and Jack Snipe in the UK and Ireland.
In the map, produced for Bird Atlas 2007-11 (BTO, BirdWatch Ireland & SOC), pink colours show abundance increases and grey areas show decreases.
Lapwing declines largest – down 63% *
* BBS results for Lapwing for 1995-2017 revise the change figure to show a decrease of 55%.
When a widespread species such as Lapwing is in decline this is bad news. Subtle difference in the way that lowland valleys are farmed may be part of the problem, as illustrated in this WaderTales blog, based on work by Mike Bell, written up with the help of John Calladine, of BTO Scotland: 25 years of wader declines.
Curlew down 62% *
* BBS results for Curlew for 1995-2017 revise the change figure to show a decrease of 61%.
The Curlew is causing huge concerns in Ireland and Wales, where conservationists are contemplating its disappearance as a breeding species. Scotland holds much larger numbers but a decline of nearly two-thirds suggests that there are major problems here as well.
Two WaderTales blogs tell the Curlew story. Is the Curlew really near-threatened explains why we should be so worried about what is happening and Curlews can’t wait for a treatment plan summarises a BTO-led paper from Sam Franks and colleagues which attempts to explain the patterns we are seeing in the species’ decline.
Dotterel down 60%
Alistair Baxter
Most of the information about Scotland’s breeding birds comes from annual data collected by volunteers contributing to the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), organised by the BTO, in partnership with JNCC and RSPB. Dotterel is different; here the counts are dependent on dedicated surveys of Scotland’s high-mountain plateaus. Concern for the species is very much linked to climate change but this blog, based on a paper by the RSPB’s Daniel Hayhow and colleagues, shows that there may well be other reasons for the species decline: UK Dotterel numbers have fallen by 57%. The figure for the decline may be slightly out-of-date but the blog isn’t.
Oystercatcher down 44% *
* BBS results for Oystercatcher for 1995-2017 revise the change figure to show a decrease of 38%.
In England, the latest BBS report shows an increase of 49% in Oystercatcher numbers but, in Scotland, where there are far more breeding pairs, the species is in decline. Oystercatchers: from shingle beaches to roof-tops looks at the history of the species’ spread from the shoreline, into the hills and onto roofs and considers the role of predation in recent declines.
Golden Plover down 43% *
* BBS results for Golden Plover for 1995-2017 revise the change figure to show a decrease of 10%.
As noted in the press release about the SNH report ‘The golden plover population has declined by 43% since 1994 and stands at its lowest point since the BBS survey began. Declines may be linked to climate change, in part due to impacts on the abundance of craneflies during the breeding season”. There are two interesting papers about this by James Pearce-Higgins and colleagues.
Pearce-Higgins, J.W., Yalden, D.W. & Whittingham, M.J. 2005. Warmer springs advance the breeding phenology of golden plovers Pluvialis apricaria and their prey (Tipulidae). Oecologia 143: 470–476.
Pearce-Higgins, J.W., Dennis, P., Whittingham, M.J. & Yalden, D.W. 2010 Impacts of climate on prey abundance account for fluctuations in a population of a northern wader at the southern edge of its range. Global Change Biology 16: 12–23.
Common Sandpiper down 39% *
* BBS results for Common Sandpiper for 1995-2017 revise the change figure to show a decrease of 23%.
The Breeding Bird Survey does not properly capture trends for species found mostly along rivers. Data for Common Sandpiper are derived from the BTO Waterways Bird Survey and the Waterways Breeding Bird Survey.
Why no Redshank?
Unfortunately, breeding Redshank are now patchily distributed across Scotland, with too few being picked up by BBS surveyors to make a contribution to Scottish population indices. Across the UK, the latest published BBS decline is 38%. UK graphs for Oystercatcher, Redshank and Curlew are shown below.
WaderTales blogs are written by Graham Appleton, to celebrate waders and wader research. Many of the articles are based on previously published papers, with the aim of making wader science available to a broader audience.
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Numbers way down for most shorebirds world wide. Went to a talk on the Whimbrel and hunting in the southern part of its range is the biggest problem.
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We must try and get away from this knee-jerk reaction of blaming climate change. As indicated for Dotterel there may be other reasons.
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Reblogged this on Wolf's Birding and Bonsai Blog.
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