About Breeding Waders of Wet Meadows

The purpose of this survey is to assess the importance of both existing and new lowland wet grassland and also other breeding wader habitats in England (as provided by agri-environment schemes) for declining breeding birds such as Curlew, Lapwing, Redshank and Snipe.

The survey will re-visit sites from the 1982 and 2002 surveys, including sites from the 2009-10 RSPB targeted areas, as well as other new sites. It will cover historic wader sites as well as newly created/managed farmland wader habitat, including arable Lapwing Plots. All regions of lowland England will be covered, as well as Welsh sites that were covered in 2002.

Take part

Help us monitor the long-term population changes of our lowland breeding waders in England and Wales.

What’s required?

The survey will require three daytime visits, with at least one week separating each, and a single dusk visit for Snipe during May - only if present at the site. An April visit should be made to detect Lapwing, and morning survey visits are preferable.

Surveyors will need to be able to identify common wader species and be familiar with display and territorial behaviour. They will also need to record simple habitat and land management measures.

All survey forms and documents can be downloaded from the Resources page and a site map with numbered fields can be downloaded and printed from your site list, once allocated. Plot all waders in each field on the downloaded maps provided using standard BTO species codes.

Ducks should also be recorded and we are also keen to use the opportunity to record Yellow Wagtail and Meadow Pipit. Only wader species need to be mapped.

Find a site to monitor

View available sites in the map below.

If a site is available locally, sign-up for the survey to request it.

Sign up

• Already have a MyBTO account? Log in and sign up.
• Don't have a MyBTO account? Create an account and then sign up.
• Once logged in, look for BWWM in the Sign Up for Projects section of MyBTO.

Request a site

• Log in to the survey application using your MyBTO account details.

Code of Conduct

Volunteers must follow BTO’s Code of Conduct. This code applies to our staff, our members, and volunteers, including surveyors and participants in the Ringing and Nest Record Schemes, (hereafter referred to collectively as ‘staff and supporters’). It applies to all BTO activities, whether online (including meetings and events, telephone, letter, and email) or offline (any face-to-face interaction). We've also written some guidance for volunteer fieldworkers, which will help beginners in particular.