The sun was shining and several rare birds paid a visit as a group of farmers, land managers, rangers and ecologists gathered on the Bisterne Estate near Ringwood to get inspiration from the success of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s wader conservation work in the Avon Valley.
Having come from across Hampshire, Wiltshire and Sussex, they were all looking for inspiration and tips on how to encourage more lapwings, redshanks and other waders to breed on their land.
Lizzie Grayshon, Wetlands Ecologist & Avon Valley Farmer Cluster Facilitator at GWCT, gave a presentation on the Trust’s Waders for Real conservation project, which has seen farmers and land managers in the Lower Avon Valley reverse the decline of lapwing, doubling of the number of breeding pairs from 61 to 122 since 2015.
Participants included farmers and representatives from the South Downs National Park, Cranborne Chase AONB, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, Breamore Estate and Nyetimber Vineyard.
Colin Hedley, of CJH Agri-Environment Consultants, who facilitates farmer cluster groups in Sussex, said: “The Lapwing is a target species for both the South Downs and Arun to Adur Farmer’s Groups and it was great that we had farmers from both to hear about the measures introduced along the Avon Valley through the Waders for Real project.
“The results were inspiring, and we will be incorporating key elements into an action plan to see Lapwings successfully nesting again on some of our Cluster Group farms.”
Breamore covers large areas of water meadow along the river Avon near Fordingbridge, and they are keen to encourage more waders.
Tenant farmer Adam Coutts said he would like to see them return to the land, which should be “perfect habitat for lapwing but we just don’t get them breeding here”.
Mike Swan, senior adviser at GWCT, also spoke about the importance of predation management and how it is crucial to get this right if you want to establish and keep a healthy breeding population of waders.
The talks were followed by a tractor-and-trailer ride out to the water meadows where Bisterne Estate Game and Wildlife Manager Rupert Brewer and Lizzie Grayshon showed us where habitat improvements had been made and explained how their predation management techniques, such as electric fences, are used. We spotted several flocks of Lapwing, the odd Heron and even a Marsh Harrier.
Can you spot the White-tailed Eagle through the binoculars? c.Lydia Farnell
Then, as if on cue to provide a grand finale to the day, a white-tailed Sea Eagle majestically sailed in along the treeline by the river to settle in a barren tree – sitting there proudly surveying his hunting ground.