Project launched to locate and protect lapwings in Wiltshire
Wiltshire Wildlife Trust is leading the scheme to save the species here
Last updated 7th Apr 2024
A conservation project is being launched in Wiltshire to locate, monitor and protect the remainder of an iconic bird across the county's chalk landscapes.
Wiltshire & Swindon Biological Records Centre (WSBRC) and Wiltshire Wildlife Trust (WWT) have teamed up to launch Project Peewit, aimed at securing the future of the Lapwing.
The project will survey the North Wessex Downs, Salisbury Plain and Cranborne Chase to find the remaining breeding lapwing and kick-start work with landowners and famers to improve habitats for the species.
Jonny Cooper, Biological Research Officer at WSBRC, said: “The lapwing is deeply ingrained within Wiltshire landscapes. Understanding their current status and distribution and working alongside landowners is crucial to help us conserve and protect this precious bird.”
How farming changes are impacting the species
Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio, Jonny said numbers of lapwing's have been declining for the last 50 years across the UK, with numbers in Wiltshire among those being impacted hardest - and they're struggling to raise chicks successfully.
"One of the big reasons is actually changes in farming practise," he told us.
Jonny explained: "There's been a demand for cheaper food. Farmers have responded to that to keep their businesses viable, so they've they're cutting grass more often for silage and they've changed their crops, which can make it harder for lap wings to nest.
"But also in that time we've seen increases in species like crows and foxes, which we think might be predating the chicks and the eggs as well."
Habitat loss in the form of more fields being ploughed in Wiltshire is also playing a part in the decreasing numbers, even though lapwings can nest in ploughed fields.
"The issue is that those fields may not be suitable for them, so there may not be enough food for the chicks, a lot of fields get sprayed with chemicals and that kills off the invertebrates that the chicks would eat."
Experts unsure of current population spread
The first task of the project is to find where the lapwings are.
"We don't really know what the lapwing distribution is like," Jonny said, adding that the birds require large areas.
Their focus will be to target areas where they know lapwings have nested previously, hoping to establish an early picture of their locations across Wiltshire.
Jonny said: "We can then use to start working with land owners or targeting new areas to create habitat and we can start to try and fix some of those problems.
"This year's about finding out where those birds are so we can then try and protect them in future years. It's a long term project, but that it will always be like that with something like that one because they're quite slow breeders."