Comberton based Countryside Regeneration Trust (CRT)
launches appeal to create lifeline for wading birds in winter
at our local Cambridgeshire Lark Rise Farm
Wading birds are in decline and need wet areas with soft, muddy ground to feed over winter so CRT needs £8,000 to create an ideal habitat for wading birds. These include lapwing, black-tailed godwit, curlew, golden plover, redshank, common snipe, jack snipe, sandpiper species. It will also attract other species, such as wigeon, teal, gadwall, and goldeneye.
CRT’s Helena Darragh, Head of Conservation and Land Management, said:
“We’re asking for your help to create a simple, yet potentially lifesaving feature on our farmland – a series of shallow, muddy channels that will make the difference at the toughest time of the year.
A species like the beautiful and distinctive curlew uses its long, down-curved bills to push into soft, wet ground to find food. Without areas of damp grassland, wading birds struggle to find food over the colder winter months. The curlew is already one of the UK’s most rapidly declining breeding bird species, with a 48 per cent drop in numbers from 1995-2015 in England.”
A shallow ‘scrape’ may look like an unassuming patch of water, but to wading birds like the curlew, it is an oasis.
In these wet areas, they can find an abundance of invertebrates to eat, providing the critical nutrition needed to survive.
“For centuries, the UK’s wetlands, floodplains, and coastal areas have been home to waders. However, these natural habitats are being lost, and while these birds are adaptable, they can’t keep pace with the rapid loss of safe spaces to feed and rest undisturbed,” added Helena.
“Curlew and lapwing are among the most iconic of our Red-listed wading birds, but the habitat we’ll create with your donations will also attract other Amber-listed birds such as teal, widgeon, and numerous ducks and geese.
“We were delighted to see growing numbers of lapwings at Lark Rise this summer, so we very much hope they will use the habitat in the winter as well.”
Development on tidal fringes and floodplains, drainage of fields and dredging of rivers has meant that fields do not get wet and stay wet like they once did.
“As a result, we are lacking areas of seasonally inundated water which is what our wading birds and waterfowl need in the winter to feed. Some wading birds are migratory, coming to the UK for our winter, whilst others are residents, such as overwintering lapwings,” said Helena.
“While we can get a partial grant, we are looking for around £8,000 in donations to make this happen,” added Helena. “There is more survey work to be done first at Lark Rise Farm, and, if further assessment of the land is needed, this might take a little longer and be ready for winter 2026.
“These areas can be created by creating shallow channels and pools no more than 50cm deep on grassland fields, which typically are soggy in the winter. We then connect these channels to existing watercourses, such as ditches to allow water to flow into them in wet periods, creating muddy puddles which create wet grassland habitat.
“In dry months, the water recedes or evaporates, and we can continue to manage the field with livestock and hay cuts. These features are easy to maintain, can be grazed over and driven over by farm machinery in summer months due to their shallow gentle gradients.”
