About the Wader Calendar

We want to enable farmers to monitor waders on their land, to collect evidence which can be used to evaluate and improve conservation management.

Birds and people have both been impacted by the sweeping changes to farming landscapes and practices over the last century. Farmers are the traditional custodians of waders. Increasing your involvement in wader monitoring and conservation will improve the outlook for waders in the UK.

Take part

• Enter your details on the Wader Calendar Online Form to register your interest. This is not a commitment to complete the survey, and you do not need to have waders on your farm to register.
• Request a paper pack when you register your interest in the Online Form, or download and print the instructions and forms from the Resources section of this page.
• Read the Survey Instructions for guidance on how to use the Recording Forms, and what to record.

Record waders on your farm

• There is no strict survey methodology. Just keep weekly estimates of the number of five target waders on your farm from April to July.
• The time it takes depends on your chosen methods. Keeping notes as you go should only take a few minutes each week, but dedicated counts at set times in the week may take longer.
• You only need to be able to recognise and identify the five target species: Curlew, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Redshank and Snipe.

Our Wader Behaviour Guide has useful tips for recognising key wader behaviours.

Weekly wader counts run between 1 April - 28 July 2024. 

Send us your records

Fill in your Farm Details, Method Used and Notes on the Wader Calendar Recording Forms. Please send this to us before 30 September 2024:

• Email a scan/photo of both pages of your form to waders@bto.org or
• Post your form to: Paul Noyes, BTO Scotland, Beta Centre (Unit 15), Stirling University Innovation Park, Stirling, FK9 4NF

Wader Calendar Resources

You can request a paper pack containing instructions and forms when you register your farm – you don’t need to print these yourself unless you want to. 

• Survey instructions
• Recording forms
• Full booklet containing instructions and recording forms

Our Wader Behaviour Guide has useful tips for recognising key wader behaviours.

Contact waders@bto.org with any questions or queries.

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.