Redshank: Estuarine Welfare Ecology

Key Welfare Facts

Redshanks are abundant waders that breed on coastal marshes and winter on estuaries across the British Isles.
They declined significantly due to land drainage removing the wet grassland breeding habitat they depend on.
Winter welfare depends on intertidal mudflat food resources that are threatened by sea level rise and development.
Redshanks are disproportionately sensitive to cold weather mortality as a relatively small-bodied winter wader.
Breeding welfare depends on tussocky grass that conceals nests from aerial predators including corvids and gulls.
Managed realignment projects creating new intertidal habitat provide important welfare benefits for this species.

Welfare Assessment

Redshank welfare depends on protecting both coastal breeding marshes and estuarine wintering habitat from development and drainage. Supporting managed coastal realignment projects that create new intertidal habitat directly benefits redshanks and many associated species.

What You Can Do

Support coastal managed realignment and estuarine habitat creation projects
Advocate for protection of remaining coastal freshwater marsh from agricultural drainage
Donate to organisations managing grazing marsh for wader breeding
Record redshank sightings at estuaries for national wetland bird survey monitoring