Lapwings, oystercatchers, snipe and curlew are all at their lowest numbers since the British breeding bird survey began

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

Four UK wading bird species saw numbers fall to new lows last year, as poor weather compounded long-term declines in populations, a survey has revealed.

Lapwings, oystercatchers, snipe and curlew are all at their lowest numbers since the British breeding bird survey of more than 100 bird species started in the early 1990s, the results for 2011 have shown.

All four species suffered sharp drops in numbers compared with spring 2010, with populations tumbling by 40% for snipe and by almost a fifth for oystercatchers (19%) and lapwings (18%). Curlew numbers declined by 13% between 2010 and 2011.

Experts believe the latest falls in numbers, recorded in spring 2011, are the result of unfavourable weather conditions in the previous year, which come on top of long-term declines in the species.

And conservationists warn there is likely to have been no respite for the birds this spring, as the ground-nesting species will have been hit by the wettest April to June on record.

The wading birds, which breed on wet grassland and uplands throughout the UK and feed on earthworms and other invertebrates, have seen longer term declines due to habitat loss, land drainage and possible increase in pressure from predators.

Kate Risely, British breeding bird survey organiser at the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), said: "It is very worrying to see sharp declines in numbers of breeding waders such as lapwing and snipe, typical birds of open country.

"The long-term decline in breeding curlew has contributed to the species now being listed as globally near-threatened."

Grahame Madge, of the RSPB, said: "The spring of 2012 has seen the wettest April to June on record, and it's likely that populations of these ground-nesting waders would have also been hit hard this year.

"Flooding at several key sites has seen hundreds of wader nests washed out, including 600 at the RSPB's Ouse Washes reserve in Cambridgeshire."

The latest figures from the survey, a national project between the BTO, the RSPB and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), also revealed major declines in other species from the 1990s to 2011.

Since the survey started in 1994, 10 species have seen numbers fall by more than half, including turtle doves and willow tits whose populations have tumbled by around four fifths within two decades.

All but three of the species whose numbers have declined by more than half migrate to Africa each winter.

Mark Eaton, principal conservation scientist at the RSPB, said: "These results highlight the alarming declines in our summer migrants, which make the long journey from Africa to brighten up our springs, but in ever decreasing numbers.

"These species may face difficulties on their African wintering areas, their European breeding grounds, and along the routes back and forth between the two; more research is urgently required to pinpoint the problems."