ome an ever greater consumer of resources and water. These factors mean more pressure is put on every inch of available land to be used for the purposes of food production and the provision of safe drinking water supplies, usually to the exclusion of all else. In addition, the energy required to service all these economies is rapidly increasing and, despite good intentions of renewable energy, this seems to be leading to the change in the climate that we are experiencing.
Conversely, across the world, study after study is recording declines in wader populations. Some flyways are losing as much as eighty-six per cent of their waders, others may be losing just thirty-three per cent, but the average loss across the board shows that nearly half of our waders have already disappeared! Across North America seventy per cent of waders have been lost, especially Arctic breeding species. In the UK alone Northern Lapwings have declined by eighty per cent over the last fifty years. Eurasian Curlews have undergone a similar decline in England, Wales and Scotland, while Ireland has lost a staggering ninety-seven per cent of its breeding Eurasian Curlew population.
All waders are preyed upon in one way or another but there are two main categories of predator, natural and unnatural. Natural threats come from the air in the form of aerial predators such as falcons and hawks preying on adults and also other raptors and crows when eggs and chicks are involved. To give you some idea of the level of threat and levels of intelligence a clutch of eggs faces there was an example of an Australian Kestrel visiting the nest of a Hooded Plover. It visited the nest several times while the eggs were in place. It was clear the bird was inspecting to see if the eggs had hatched and thus provide a suitable meal for it. Finally the Kestrel was thwarted after all its patience when the eggs were plundered by a crow before actually hatching.
Although less of a threat to fit adult birds terrestrial animals such as foxes, badgers, stoats, weasels and even hedgehogs and reptiles can pose a significant threat to eggs and chicks alike.
Recently it was discovered that surprisingly, some herbivores also predate nests. There are examples of sheep eating Curlew eggs in the UK and in New Zealand deer have been found to be a threat to the Critically Endangered Southern Red-breasted Plover.
Feral and introduced species have posed a threat to ground nesting birds since the days of discovery when cats, dogs and rats were transported around the world, deliberately or inadvertently to places where the birds had not developed a means by which they could cope with the new threat. Many of the extinctions that have occurred, especially among ground nesting birds, have been as a result of these introductions. Well-meaning people will often feed these feral populations, especially cats, whilst not appreciating the dreadful toll these animals take on their wild neighbours.
The hunting of waders used to be widespread, but in recent, more enlightened times most wader species are off the quarry list. Those that remain on the list are legally sought such as Woodcocks, Snipes and some Plovers. The rules on what is legitimate quarry vary depending on where you happen to be. A bird may be protected on one side of a national border, but not on the other once it has crossed. It is however unlikely that this legal sport hunting is having a drastic impact on populations although common sense would suggest that if a species is in decline it seems to be an unnecessary pressure to keep shooting them for pure sport.
Illegal sport hunting is also a threat in some areas. The Mediterranean region is a dangerous place for migrants, especially those passing through Malta, Cyprus and Lebanon. Traditional and cultural reasons are usually cited as an excuse for this destruction. Although legislation is in place to stop this, monitoring and prosecuting are both difficult and costly to achieve.
Rather more difficult to deal with is subsistence hunting, where people are hunting birds for the pot. The alte