Large areas of the blanket bogs of northern Scotland are classified under the EU Birds Directive as the Caithness and Sutherland Peatlands Special Protection Area (SPA) for their bird populations, including the golden plover Pluvialis apricaria due to its listing on Annex 1 of the Directive and over 1% of the national population breeding in the classified site. Although golden plovers nest and rear their chicks on the bogs, breeding and non-breeding adults frequently forage on agricultural fields located close to the bog. These fields are not within the boundaries of the SPA; however, because they are used by golden plovers which breed on the SPA they are a potentially important resource for a SPA interest.  To help inform aspects of the implementation of a Management Strategy, under the Life Peatlands Project and particularly in relation to agricultural practice, it is essential that the requirements of golden plover in relation to their use of fields is understood.  In 1996 an extensive survey of a large number of fields located within 6 km of the SPA was undertaken, designed to identify those fields used by golden plovers and their characteristics.  The purposes of the present study were to analyse these data to provide both an indication of the important features of field selection by plovers (and therefore appropriate management prescriptions) and to identify a sample of fields for continued monitoring.

1,368 fields were surveyed, and only 44 (39 within the systematic study) were occupied by golden plover.  Occupied fields were widely scattered within the limits of close proximity to the SPA, but no or few occupied fields were found in Strathnaver and N Halladale. Golden plover selected fields with poor drainage and some cover of rushes, probably because such fields had more abundant leatherjacket prey.  The vast majority of occupied fields had short (< 5 cm) swards through grazing.  Flocks of plovers avoided field boundaries and so larger flocks occupied larger fields. Occupied and unoccupied fields could not be predicted on the basis of the measured field characteristics suggesting either that plovers used unmeasured characteristics to select fields or, more likely, that many suitable fields were not occupied. Recommended management prescriptions included avoiding agricultural ‘improvement’ (e.g. drainage, reseeding as silage) of occupied fields and suitable alternatives, and appropriate grazing regimes to maintain a short sward and leatherjacket densities. Further recommendations included: resurvey of occupied fields, checking of fields at night, documentation of the entire pasture resource, management experiments to identify suitable alternative fields, and studies to investigate relationships between breeding plover densities on bogs and field use.

This study will be published soon and will be available on the SNH web site.

Whitfield, D.P. & Thomas, C.J. 2006. Analysis of a survey of golden plover around the Caithness and Sutherland Peatlands SPA. SNH Commissioned Report, Battleby.

 

Principal Investigator: P. Whitfield

Collaborators: C. Thomas, Durham University

Client: Scottish Natural Heritage

Photo: D. Jackson

For more information please contact phil.whitfield@natural-research.org