Redshank © Andy Rouse/2020VISION
Lea Valley Wader Strategy
Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust is working in partnership with RSPB, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and Tarmac in an effort to address the decline in breeding wading birds in the Lea catchment through a new strategy.
Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust is working in partnership with RSPB, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and Tarmac in an effort to address the decline in breeding wading birds in the Lea catchment through a new strategy. The Birds of Hertfordshire, published in 2015, identified that breeding numbers of little ringed plover, ringed plover, redshank, snipe and lapwing have all decreased by more than 25% in the last 40 years. Snipe is now considered to be extinct as a breeding species in Hertfordshire. Some of these species, notably little ringed plover and ringed plover benefited from the bare ground and early successional habitats created through gravel extraction over the past 100 years. As time passes such habitats become dominated by dense vegetation, scrub and then woodland. Whilst these habitats clearly have value for wildlife, they are unsuitable for these wading birds.
By working collaboratively and through dynamic land management, the Trust and partners will be working together strategically to ensure that suitable habitat is represented somewhere in the valley such that the waders have somewhere to breed.
