Habitats for wading birds appeal hits target

Wading birds are in decline and need wet areas with softer ground to feed over the winter. Thanks to your donations we have raised the £8k we need to create this ideal habitat on two of our farms

Winter brings an unforgiving landscape for wading birds like lapwing, curlew and black-tailed godwit. They rely on our wetlands to survive the colder months, but as more of their traditional habitats disappear, they are facing growing challenges finding enough food and shelter to see them through the colder months.

The right habitat makes a huge difference, as we saw at our CRT farm Lark Rise in Cambridgeshire this year; with careful farming focused on wildlife over the years, we have established a healthy breeding population of lapwings. In fact, 2024 was a record year for fledged lapwing chicks at Lark Rise.

Last winter, we asked for your help to build on our success and create a simple, yet potentially lifesaving feature on our farmland - a series of shallow, muddy channels to attract wading birds to our farms where they can feed and thrive.

Wet, soft ground means food

A species like the beautiful and distinctive curlew uses its long, down-curved bill to push into soft, wet ground to find food. If the ground is too hard, it can’t do this. It is already one of the UK’s most rapidly declining breeding birds, with a 48% 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’s an oasis. In these wet areas, they can find an abundance of invertebrates to eat, providing the critical nutrition needed to survive. We are creating two new wetland habitats, one on Lark Rise Farm in Cambridgeshire and the other at Bere Marsh Farm in Dorset.

Loss of habitat and wetland birds

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. 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.

Lapwing

Black-tail godwit

Goldeneye

Our new habitat will give many different species a winter sanctuary where they’ll find a rich source of worms, insects, and other invertebrates. We are aiming to have both new habitats ready for winter 2025.

Thank you for helping us to make a difference in Winter

Thanks to generous donations we have achieved our £8,000 target to do the necessary surveys and digging to create these two new habitats.

Together, we can preserve the beauty of the lapwing, the grace of the curlew, and the spirit of the goldeneye for future generations.

This appeal is now closed. Donations were made to the CRT's Habitats for Wading Bird fund. The CRT will try to ensure funds are directed to the surveys and digging required to create the improved habitat, but if an appeal's target is not met or exceeded the funds could be diverted to another appeal to achieve the greatest benefit for wildlife and people on our farms.