Sunday 22 February 2015

BTO Report: Conservation Management of Moorland


I would like to draw your attention to a report published by the BTO: 

Calladine, J., Critchley, C.N.R., Baker, D., Towers, J. & Thiel, A. 2014. Conservation management of moorland: a case study of the effectiveness of a combined suite of management prescriptions which aim to enhance breeding bird populations'. Bird Study Volume 61, Issue 1, 2014.

To explain why this work is relevant to Understanding Predation, I quote from the conclusion in the extract from this report:

"There has been wide advocacy of, and considerable resources (e.g. through agri-environment schemes) devoted to, moorland habitat management for birds and yet declines continue. However, there are practical difficulties of establishing management that is effective in increasing moorland bird abundance. It appears likely that in areas where those birds are vulnerable to predation, and its control is not effective, expectations of increasing bird populations in response to habitat management alone may be unrealistic."

Currently, I do not have access to the full paper, but there is a link to a summary of the findings published by BTO on the project's references webpage.

2 comments:

  1. Although there are undoubtedly more waders to be found on managed moorland than non managed ..many of the keepers are thinking that there may not be as many as have been seen in other years ....Ravens and peregrines being the suspected culprits leading to these perceived local declines.

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  2. Bert,
    Many thanks for your further thoughts. This is exactly the sort of information that the project's workshops will be aiming to gather. I hope you will be able to attend the SGA workshop, or at least complete the questionnaire that will be available shortly.

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