Breeding Waders: Welfare and Conservation on UK Uplands

UK upland breeding waders including curlew, golden plover, lapwing, and dunlin face severe declines requiring targeted habitat management.

Key Facts

Five of the UK seven upland breeding wader species have declined by more than 50% in recent decades
Predation management through legal means has been shown to substantially increase chick survival on reserves
Drainage of upland bogs and moors reduces the wet flushes where waders find invertebrate food for chicks
Agri-environment payments fund wader-friendly management including rewetting and predator management
Some wader species have very restricted UK breeding ranges making local population losses irreparable

Welfare Considerations

Individual wader chicks on degraded moorland face welfare challenges including inadequate food resources from drained, invertebrate-poor habitat, and high predation pressure from legal and illegal killing of adults. Curlew chicks require wet, invertebrate-rich habitat to develop, and on drained moorland they struggle to find sufficient food for normal growth. Chicks that do not receive adequate nutrition develop slowly and are more vulnerable to cold stress and predation. Conservation management that rewets moorland, reduces predation pressure through legal management, and maintains nest disturbance-free buffers directly improves welfare outcomes for individual chicks.

What You Can Do

Support upland conservation charities working on wader habitat restoration
Advocate for agri-environment scheme payments that reward successful wader chick production
Avoid disturbing wader breeding areas between March and July
Learn to identify upland waders and contribute sightings to monitoring surveys
Support moorland rewetting projects that create the wet flushes waders need for chick rearing