Waders respond to predator control. [who would have thought]

[islandgun]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80p4pxxz96o

CNPA said the partnership had taken actions, including enhancing habitats and, in some cases, controlling predator.

The park authority said foxes and stoats were among animals that preyed on the ground-nesting birds.

[Yellow Bear]

Still no mention of the black and white striped "elephant in the room"

[jall25]

Shame it does not go further and say - foxes and stoats were culled as well as crows magpies etc 

[Keith 66]

Many years ago our club shot over a large local landfill site & surrounding marshes, the landowner employed a new "conservation" manager, up until he arrived fox & predator control was carried out constantly. With the landfill site getting bigger the fox population grew until some members organised a fox drive. The manager witnessed this & we lost a lot of the shoot, subsequently he put so many restrictions & arbitary rules on us that the shoot became unviable.

Fox numbers soared & he & his friends loved the cuddly foxes. The subsequent collapse in lapwing & other ground nesting bird numbers was blamed on everything but predators. We finally lost that shoot about 15 years ago to the rspb & were told "There is no place for shooting on any of our land".

Back when i grew up the sky round these marshes was black with lapwings, hardly see any now. It aint rocket science.