Waveney Waders Project

Thermal Imaging Scope

Lapwing (Photo by Trevor Mayes)

The Waveney Valley and South Norfolk as a whole already supports wonderful, though under recorded wildlife.

The Otter trust believes that the region could support more wildlife. We hope that the Waveney Waders project will help. The Otter trust is conducting a pilot study based at our Dickleburgh Moor site utilising a thermal scope to locate and place colour identification rings on lapwing chicks which will enable us to assess nesting success, site fidelity and breeding requirements for lapwing and other farmland waders. We will then work with our landowner partners to achieve the following aims:

To confirm current known nest sites and to accurately record nest numbers at these sites and hence facilitate greater ringing success.
To survey potential new and suspected nest sites on partner landowner’s fields to support their decisions for more nature friendly land management decisions which may lead to new funding opportunities and inform landowners that may not have realised the bird’s presence on their land.
To build and maintain data on nesting sites and numbers to plot trends over time and identify threats and potentials for farmland waders. Hence developing a current and dynamic map of land use by (lapwing and other waders/species) in the Waveney valley.