The yellow wagtail, once widespread throughout England and Wales, and a familiar visitor to the meadows and pastures of Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds, has seen its numbers plummet over the past 30 years.
The brightly coloured little bird is associated with grazing cattle and it does still breed across southern England, only now in much reduced numbers, impacted as so many other species have been by the changes in modern farming and the impacts of the warming climate.
What is at the root of the decline, and can we get them back?
These are two of the key questions that the Yellow Wagtail Partnership conservation project is asking, a coalition of local organisations seeking to pool knowledge and trial new ways of managing the land to redress biodiversity loss.
The UK is one of world’s most nature depleted countries, with only half of our biodiversity remaining and one in six species at risk of being lost forever. A key aim of the project is to increase insect abundance, the often overlooked bottom of the food chain that is so critical to the delicate balance of the ecosystem. And in turn, the team hope, with more bugs around, it will help bring the beloved bird back from the brink.
Summer visitors
A summer visitor from Africa, the yellow wagtail was a bird of wet meadows and pastures, frequently seen foraging in the muddy edges of streams, ditches and pools, and around the feet of cattle, searching for small insects like beetles and flies.
Sights like this are still common throughout the summer in Eastern Europe where agriculture is less intensive, however with the dramatic changes in commercial agricultural practices in the UK, and the associated impacts on the landscape and environment, yellow wagtail populations have been declining rapidly since the early 1980s.
These changes in farming techniques, with land drained and levelled, and the dramatic disappearance of wetland habitats (75% have been lost) have led not just to habitat reduction but also insect declines that together have significantly impacted the UK’s yellow wagtail population. To the extent that these beautiful, graceful birds are now designated a ‘Red List’ species of conservation concern.
A partnership solution
Launched in September 2020 by Dr Robin Buxton, patron of Oxfordshire environmental charity Earth Trust, the project brings together two other local landowners - Church Farm Partnership and Lower Farm – with Wild Oxfordshire who are hosting and facilitating the project.
The four are working together to investigate, learn and share as much as possible about the impact of different land management techniques, both on this at-risk species and the wider ecosystem. The group is looking to provide evidence and information on the impact that restoring wetland habitats might have on this particularly significant indicator species.
Welcoming wetland habitats
Together, Earth Trust, Church Farm Partnership and Lower Farm collectively own a four mile stretch along the bank of the River Thames. This area includes a number of riparian meadows, adjacent to grasslands, productive arable farmland and woodland/scrub, and includes Earth Trust’s new River of Life II wetland habitats where in 2021 ponds, backwaters and wet woodlands were created to support an extensive array of aquatic plants, fish, birds, small mammals, and the all-important insects.
This unique combination of habitats presents a rare opportunity for a landscape scale conservation project and the first phase has been focused on setting up a system to collect the baseline data needed to inform the study over the long-term.
Changes for one, benefits for many
The project aims to demonstrate how grasslands especially can be farmed using holistic practices that support nature, communities and farming businesses, and aims to be part of new ground-breaking research in this area by providing a field site for researchers and students.
It will provide important insights for other land owners on the impact of small changes that can be made to boost flora and fauna, with benefits for farm production, climate and people.
At Earth Trust, the charity’s aim is to manage its 500+ hectares of farmland and natural green spaces for the benefit of biodiversity, climate and health, so understanding how best to manage the land for nature is vitally important.
Low input cattle grazing is being undertaken across the project areas by NFU member Emma Blomfield, an award-winning meat producer committed to high welfare standards as well as to the health of the habitats the animals are helping to manage through conservation grazing.
By restoring these four miles of meadows and pastures for the yellow wagtail, the fortunes of other species will be improved. Increasing food sources and wet meadow habitats will benefit countless other species who rely on these rare habitats too.
A haven for wildlife
Wetlands and riparian meadows change throughout the seasons. In the winter they can be very wet and a lot of the land is flooded for long periods but in summer, they are alive with flowers and invertebrates. A haven not just for wildlife, but for people too, to enjoy the tranquil riverside walks buzzing with the sounds and sights of nature.
And if you’re very lucky, you may spot a very special late summer sight - flocks of yellow wagtails congregating around the cattle in the meadows and pastures, just before they migrate back to West Africa for the winter.
A sight worth waiting for, and a partnership working hard to bring this once common joy back to our farmlands and rivers.
earthtrust.org.uk/what_we_do/yellow-wagtail-partnership
About the Yellow Wagtail
The yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava flavissima) is a small, yellow and green bird, with a medium-length tail and slender black legs.
The small bird spends much of its time walking or running on the ground, where it wags its tail from time to time.
Since 1970, the yellow wagtail has declined by 70% in farmland habitats and 97% in wetland habitats.
It is now on the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern and a priority species on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.
