Peak BirdsISSUE 4 SPRING 2006 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE PEAK BIRDS PROJECT The Peak Birds Project is back! It never really went away, but I am sure CHRIS TOMSON that some of you will be wondering why I have not visited you lately. . .

ince July 2005 I have been working four days a week with United Utilities (the water and S electricity provider for the North West), preparing sustainable farm management plans as part of the SCaMP project (see below), on tenant farms and grazing licence land around Longdendale, Rochdale, Oldham, Goyt Valley, Lamaload and Lyme Park. For those plans that are implemented, there will be many benefits for birds and wildlife, as well as for the farmers. A number of in-bye lapwing colonies have been safeguarded under the plans and the high moorlands will see an improvement in bird populations, including dunlins, ring ouzels, curlews, snipe, golden plovers and short eared owls, when the planned moorland restoration is completed. Over the next twelve months I intend to visit as many of you as possible, to catch up and offer support for the good work that I know many of you are carrying out in looking after the breeding birds and other wildlife on your farms. I will also be pleased to visit anyone else who is interested in conserving wild birds on their land. Longdendale, part of United Utilities Estate, is important for breeding lapwings, curlews, golden plovers, ring ouzels Chris Tomson and short-eared owls CHRIS GOMERSALL rspb-images.com What is SCaMP?

Golden plover

Working together for the birds in the Peak District Know your birds . . .

Yellow wagtail n May 2005 the Environmental Stewardship ANNA SUGRUE Scheme (ESS) replaced the Countryside I Stewardship Scheme (CSS) and Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) as the new agri-environment scheme, which provides funding to farmers and CHRIS GOMERSALL rspb-images.com other land managers who deliver sensitive land management on their farm. ESS is a two-tier scheme designed to encourage more land into Stewardship and, at the same time, offer significant rewards for the best land for wildlife. The lower tier Entry Level Scheme (ELS) pays £30 per hectare across the whole farm, subject to certain criteria, and is available to all land managers and owners. There are three species of wagtail found in Higher Level Scheme (HLS) payments are only the Peak Park, but the yellow wagtail is the made on specific parts of the farm identified as least common with only three known The Peak Birds Project offers free advice on conservation grants having high environmental value or potential, for breeding sites. example flower-rich meadows, archaeological sites Sometimes there is information overload and The grey wagtail is more colourful than and sites where ground nesting birds are breeding finding a way through all of the choices after a hard its name suggests and can appear very or have the potential to breed. The HLS is also day s work can be daunting. However, the Peak similar to the yellow wagtail in flight. This competitive so it is important to put a good Birds Project is here to help with advice and, where can be confusing, but the yellow wagtail s application together. possible, applications for the new Environmental most distinguishing features are a much As part of the application for HLS, applicants Stewardship Scheme (ESS), so if you need help give shorter tail and longer legs than the grey must submit a Farm Environment Plan (FEP), which the Project Officer a call for an informal chat and wagtail. involves completing a very detailed application a free visit (see back page for contact details). Yellow wagtails spend the winter in central form that records all the features on the farm and As you may already know, the Peak Birds Project and southern Africa amongst the antelopes, their condition, including walls, hedges, pastures, is based at the Peak District National Park Authority but in spring they return to the UK to spend meadows, trees and woods. The FEP helps to office and is a partnership between the Authority their time around domestic cattle, following identify the most appropriate management options and the RSPB. Advice is available for all aspects of them around and catching insects. In April in the HLS application. conservation land management and grants schemes they nest on the ground amongst vegetation, The Peak Birds Project has already completed such as Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) where the female lays four to six eggs. The five FEPs for farmers joining HLS. payments, CSS, ESS and the Forestry Commission s young birds finally fly 28 days after the eggs England Woodland Grant Scheme (EWGS). The are laid. Help from the Peak Park National Park Authority also has an Environmental One of the sites in the Peak District was The changes in farm subsidies and grants offer new Enhancement Scheme. Contact the Project Officer found by a farmer — he noticed the adult opportunities for everyone managing land. for further details (see back page for contact details). birds flying around and becoming very

agitated as he walked near his field, which CHRIS TOMSON was due to be mown. He rang the Peak Birds Project Officer who was able to identify them as yellow wagtails. It was obvious by their panicked behaviour they had young in the field, so the farmer agreed to delay mowing until the young flew. Good for him!

Glossop

Sheffield

Buxton Chesterfield

Matlock KEY Peak District National Park

Area of Yellow Ashbourne wagtail nesting sites

Town The Roaches with Shutlingsloe Know your birds . . .

Redshank Lapwings and curlews are waders, a description golden plovers, which can be seen at close quarters given to a group of birds with long legs and a habit from the viewing hides. for feeding in shallow water or mudflats. Snipe and Our resident British lapwing population is redshanks are waders too. estimated at 21,500 pairs, which swells in winter CHRIS GOMERSALL rspb-images.com Lapwings do not stray far from their breeding with birds from the continent to give an estimated sites and, in mild weather, can still be around in combined population of over two million the Peak District throughout the winter. However, individuals. a hard spell of cold frosty weather that freezes the Curlews spend the winter on the mudflats of ground will send them off to the milder lowlands. coastal areas such as Morecambe Bay and the The RSPB s Old Moor reserve in the Dearne Valley Humber Estuary, some will get as far as the Wash. is only 10 miles from the Peak District and in winter Interestingly, the female curlew s beak is longer can hold as many as 1,500 lapwings and up to 7,000 than the male s so that when they are both probing the same patch of mud they are not competing for The redshank is slightly smaller than a the same food. This clever trick of nature sees all curlew, with orange to bright red legs and species of waders with differing beak lengths so a straight orange bill tipped with black. that they can concentrate in their thousands on The redshank nests on the ground amongst coastal and tidal mudflats, feeding in the same rushes or rank grasses. The eggs are laid in patch but all securing food from different depths. late April and are incubated for 24 days; the young birds quickly leave the nest and feed on earthworms, beetles, spiders and leatherjackets. Adult redshanks can often be seen standing on walls or gateposts, and if they have young nearby will give a noisy tew- tew-tew call. Although a common breeding bird on the wet grassy lowlands, coastal mudflats and some upland areas of Britain (such as the North and Lancashire s Bowland Fells), we only know of three pairs of breeding redshanks in the Peak District. Like curlews and lapwings, the redshank arrives in the Peak District in early spring to breed. Once the chicks have fledged, they return to the coast. Two of the three Peak District pairs are on land owned by United Utilities and are carefully watched over by the tenant farmer, who regularly reports seeing the chicks as

NORMAN RICHARDSON he goes about checking his stock. If you know of any breeding redshanks or yellow wagtails in or close to the Peak District please let the Project Officer know.

Helping horse owners to help birds CHRIS TOMSON Some of the best sites for ground nesting birds in the Peak District, particularly on the western flanks, occur on fields being used to graze horses. The Peak Birds Project is planning to stage Buxton Chesterfield an open day for horse owners in Autumn 2006, in order to demonstrate how land managed for horses, particularly pasture, can be good for ground nesting birds including lapwings. Hay Matlock meadows can be good habitat for skylarks, KEY curlews and twites. Peak District If you would like an invite to this event, National Park Area of Redshank Ashbourne please contact the Peak Birds Project Officer Chris Tomson is keen to talk to other horse owners with nesting sites (see back page for contact details). fields suitable for breeding lapwings. Town Who is doing what for News in brief birds in the Peak District?

Where to find birds Since the Peak Birds Project started in 2001, contact Before has been made with 260 farmers and landowners. in the Peak District Of those 260 farmers, we know that at least 90 are following bird-friendly policies on their farms, Where to find birds in the Peak District is a ranging from simply marking nests on the ground full-colour, poster-sized leaflet produced by with a stick before harrowing or rolling, to rush the Peak Birds Project to inform visitors about cutting and creating shallow pools; some are doing the work being done by all of these and more. farmers to conserve birds If you are interested in helping the Peak Birds in the Peak District. These Project to maintain and increase populations of the leaflets are free, and are area s farmland birds then ring the Project Officer available from visitor for a chat and to arrange a free visit (see bottom of centres and tourist the page for contact details). information centres in and around the Peak District. After e-news for farmland birds

Before and after — rush pasture management at Stonemoor, near Stocksbridge

Chris Tomson Anna Sugrue

Peak Birds Project Officer RSPB Conservation Support Officer RSPB regd charity no.207076 Peak District National Park Authority The RSPB, Westleigh Mews Aldern House, Baslow Road Road, Denby Dale Bakewell DE45 1AE Huddersfield HD8 8QD

Tel 01629 816247 Tel 01484 861148 Email [email protected] Email [email protected]

Working together for the birds in the Peak District