The Lincolnshire Bird Club

On Springwatch tonight there was footage of a sheep treading on a Common Sandpiper nest. I am wondering how often this happens and if it's one of the reasons why I rarely see this species anymore.
Have sheep populations gone up where they nest?
I must say I don't like to see cattle or sheep on bird reserves. I know they have caused problems for Avocets at Gib Pt. in the past and I rarely see any waders on Saltfleet Paradise Pool when the sheep are on there.

I also saw this footage on springwatch. I see both sides of the stories if im honest. These sheep and cattle are at these reserves and do scare away nesting birds and in the footage shown this evening nests are destroyed. On the other hand most reserve maintence is done by grazing sheep and cattle, if they weren't keeping the grass low then the wardens would have to go in with some strimmers maybe not in breeding season but this would deffinatly cause more stress and disorder than the sheep that birds are more used to. I don't agree with sheep and cattle being on reserves but i don't disagree either.

Thanks Anthony

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http://anthonybentleywildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

UK life list 310 (Harlequin Duck)
Lincolnshire List 246 (Puffin)
Village (Brigsley) list 99 (Shelduck)

Thanks Anthony

Livestock grazing on nature reserves is a no brainer to be honest. Yes they do trample some nests, but without them our nature reserves would not attain the right condition to attract many of the nesting birds we desire in the first place. It is impractical, uneconomic and more damaging to do anything else in most cases. It's not as haphazzard as you might think either, there has been research into trampling rates of both cattle and sheep on a variety of species including lapwing, redshank and snipe. This enables site managers to determine appropriate stocking densities (LSU/ha) to maximise productivity. All habitats/sites are different, so fine tuning is required to apply this to a site specific level. Dealing with colonially nesting species such as avocets (where you might well restrict grazing between April and July) is also very different from dispersed species such as lapwings. We have over 300 cattle at Frampton/Freiston and they do a wonderful job for us.

Cheers,

John

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Contact: recorder_south@lincsbirdclub.co.uk

Hi John, thanks for the reply. I once spoke to a reserve manager (Kevin Wilson?) who said it actually costs them money to have animals on the reserve. I presume cost of fencing etc.
Surely it would be much better and cheaper to do selective cutting with a mower? I expect animal droppings do attract flies for birds to feed on, perhaps dung could be imported from other sites, stables tend to give it away free.

Hi Geoff

Your comment about importing dung gave me the best laugh I've had since seeing the photos of people on ladders at the White throated Robin twitch, you weren't serious were you?

Most breeding wader populations in the UK probably wouldn't exist if it wasn't for cattle and sheep grazing, the habitats would just change into something else, generally scrub or woodland. These birds have adapted to some level of grazing pressure over thousands of years. As John states the density of grazing animals is crucial and intensive grazing should be a no no but machines cutting everything cannot replicate the complex swards that waders often favour, only grazing can do that.

Personally I'd be more concerned about the high levels of predation nests and fledglings suffer from predators like hedgehogs, badgers, cats, crows, magpie's etc, oh and trampling from canada geese and the occasional birder going off piste.

Hi Phil,
A group of us birders in the midlands once enhanced a wader scrape by importing pig manure from a local farm, it wasn't very pleasant putting the stuff down but afterwards the effort was worth it as it brought in plenty of waders. It wasn't something we thought of ourselves but was in a book about creating a nature reserve.
Regarding sheep densities, I'm sure I read somewhere that sheep numbers had been increased on moorlands causing problems for grouse etc.