Under-threat birds to have habitats restored

3:38pm Tuesday 15th January 2008

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WADING birds threatened with extinction are being handed a lifeline after a council joined forces with a wildlife organisation.

The Bowland Wader Project is helping Ribble Valley farmers and landowners create and improve habitats for lapwings, curlew and red shank.

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The joint project between Ribble Valley Council and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) aims to save wader birds from extinction.

The lapwing population has halved nationally in the past 30 years, with curlews and redshank not faring much better.

Intensive farming and increased use of fertilisers is considered by the RSPB to have played a major role in the birds' decline and the destruction of their habitat. Ribble Valley countryside officer, David Hewitt, said: "The tumbling flight and evocative call of the lapwing were once a common sight in Lancashire.

"Sadly, these beautiful wading birds, tewits as they are known locally, have suffered drastic declines due to land drainage and changes in grassland management.

"The national decline of the lapwing is particularly worrying."

The Bowland Wader Project is restoring key habitats across Bowland for the endangered birds.

Vital land management included topping rushy pastures in the autumn to maintain short grasslands for nesting, making ditch edges shallow and muddy, and creating shallow pools where the birds can feed.

Grazing by native breed beef cattle also helps to create and maintain the ideal habitat in which the wading birds can successfully breed.

At Chipping Moss, part of the Leagram Estate in Chipping, the lapwing population has now risen from just one pair in 2003 to over 15 pairs this spring.

Snipe, curlew, redshank and oystercatcher are also increasing and skylarks have returned after an absence of many years.

Gavin Thomas, of the RSPB, said: "These fantastic results are thanks to the Bowland Wader Project and long-term commitment of the farmer and landowner to improve wildlife at the site.

"The project is an excellent example of a species recovery programme and much of the work would not have been possible without funding from Ribble Valley Borough Council."