Following hot on the heels of the BioDiversity (BAP) update - there’s more news  about a new project aimed at halting the decline in the number of lapwings on British farmland from the RSPB. The charity has chosen more than 250 farm sites in the UK to test measures designed to protect the lapwing, a once-common farmland bird whose numbers have declined by almost half between 1970 and 2004.

At present there are estimated to be around 156,000 breeding pairs in the UK and the bird is classified as amber on the British Trust for Ornithology’s Birds of Conservation Concern list. The RSPB study will compare farms where land is managed to attracts lapwings with similar sites that do not follow practices designed to attract the birds, over a five-year period. Farms in the Peak District in Derbyshire, the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire, the north Pennines, south-eastern Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are taking part.

The findings will be used to improve government schemes that pay farmers for environmentally friendly practices. Mark Bolton, a research biologist at the RSPB, said the project was aiming to find whether the UK’s agri-environment schemes would increase lapwing numbers or whether extra measures would be needed to ensure the right habitat was created. (more…)

The 2006 UK BAP Review

UK BAP Reporting Round (duration October 2005 - June 2006) has rolled around again and produced a weighty review report - with their usual thoroughness. If you want to read ’the full-monty’ - you’ll find it at http://www.ukbap-reporting.org.uk. Otherwise for a snapshot of the progress that’s been made in bird conservation 
we’ve extracted a snippet showing the latest situation in the table below.  (more…)