Peak Birds Project
The Peak Birds Project is a partnership between the Peak District National Park Authority and the RSPB. It was launched in 2001 as a to deliver the Peak District BAP targets for birds.
The aim of the project is
to encourage targeted habitat management to restore
populations of lapwing,
curlew and twite. Management aimed at lapwing and curlew also has benefits for snipe, golden plover, and the Peak District’s
very small population of redshank. The project focuses on several key habitats: wet rush pasture (breeding habitat for lapwings and curlews),
hay meadows (breeding habitat for curlews and feeding habitat for twite) and arable (breeding habitat
for lapwings).
The project’s success is largely thanks to the enthusiasm of farmers. Since the start of the project, more than 140 farmers have made at least small changes to help birds, and many are actively restoring bird habitats.
Over 540 hectares of pasture and 81 hectares of hay meadow have gone into conservation agreements, and still more habitat is being managed for birds. The farms involved in the project support around two thirds of the Peak District’s lapwing population.
Breeding
waders such as lapwings require wet pasture with a short, tussocky sward. Many upland pastures in the Peak District are severely infested with rushes, a result of undergrazing
or misguided conservation advice against controlling rushes. This makes large areas of pasture unsuitable for lapwings and curlews. The Peak Birds Project advises farmers on rush management and helps to fund this work, either using
the project’s own budget or through grant schemes such as Environmental Stewardship.
Some of the Peak Birds Project’s achievements 2001-2007
- 350 farmers and landowners contacted about management for birds.
- 145 farmers known to be implementing bird friendly management as a result of advice from the Peak Birds Project.
- 180 farmers and land managers attending Peak Birds Project “Management for Birds" open days.
- More than 30 new applications or upgrades to North Peak and South West Peak Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) and Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) agreements.
- Advising on, and assisting farmers with agri-environment scheme applications.
- Providing advice to farmers already in agri-environment agreements
- Four Peak Birds Project newsletters written and distributed.
- Illustrated talks and training events to farmers' and wildlife groups.
- Working with United Utilities to deliver Sustainable Catchment Management Plans (SCaMP) on 22 holdings covering 10,400 hectares in the Peak District and South Pennines. This has been the main thrust of the work of the Peak Birds Project since January 2005.
- Providing free on-farm conservation advice and preparing whole farm conservation plans when requested.
- The project secured around £500,000 from agri-environment schemes for farmers over the next ten years. The project officer's work has also resulted in over 630 hectares going into agri-environment schemes.
- Used funding from the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund to pay contractors to control rushes on key breeding wader sites in the Peak District.
- Used funding from the SITA Trust for 110 hectares of rush management and creating 18 scrapes on 18 farms.
- Successfully reached the 2005 BAP target for rush pasture management with more than 100 hectares being managed for ground nesting birds.
- On-farm training events for farmers and landowners on the Staffordshire Moors and North Peak ESA attended by 200 people, 70% of whom were farmers. Items covered included scrape creation, soft rush management, predator control, Defra grant schemes and grassland management for ground nesting birds.
- Peak Birds Project client farmer won the RSPB's 2003 Operation Lapwing award.
- Management and restoration of hay meadows, rush pasture, wet grassland and rough grazing for birds.
See the Peak Birds Project website for more information and to see the latest newsletter.
Catherine
Gray
Peak Birds Project
Officer
Peak District National
Park Authority
Aldern
House
Baslow Road
Bakewell
Derbyshire DE45 1AE
Tel: 01629 816247
