Wading birds including lapwing, curlew, and snipe require wet, tussocky grassland to breed, and the loss of these habitats from agricultural intensification has caused devastating welfare and population consequences.
Breeding wading bird welfare is acutely threatened by the loss of the wet grassland habitats they have evolved to use. Ground-nesting in exposed situations makes chicks extremely vulnerable to predation, chilling, and farm machinery. When habitats are fragmented, predator pressure intensifies because small isolated patches cannot sustain the breeding populations that provide surveillance and predator deterrence. Nest failures mean adults must re-lay, exhausting their reserves. Chick starvation when invertebrate prey is depleted by agricultural intensification causes significant mortality. Wet grassland restoration creates habitats where multiple welfare threats are simultaneously reduced.