Thursday, March 26, 2020

Loss of Lapwing breeding site

I saw only two lapwings at the traditional breeding area under Crow Hill, Sowerby yesterday. Over the years the farmer has drained the land and yesterday was using the pasture topper on any remaining areas of rush & long grass.
I can’t understand why farmers are still allowed to get away with this!

2 comments:

AndyC said...

Agree the rush and rough grassland slow the flow of the rain water,,,another reason it floods all the time , this habitat is disappearing fast......................another field with no flowers or life.....

Steve Blacksmith said...

There used to be Curlews, Snipe and Hares up there as well. I hope they're still there.
Many of the fields are now just used for silage, but surprisingly the Skylarks still seemed to be nesting in them, though I didn't go up last spring.

There used to be a Crow's nest, appropriately for Crow Hill, in an elderberry tree on Shaw Lane, so low I could climb up and get data for a nest record card for the BTO. Eventually the nest was either ragged by somebody or a storm blew it down.