ly of late, it seems that this is not possible, especially in arable land, in the modern world of mega farming.
A trip to warmer places for birders is never complete without a visit to rice fields, they provide both food and shelter for many bird species and in particular waders. However once again the changes in the patterns of flooding are compromising their suitability for waders. Some rice strains can now be grown in relatively dry fields much reducing their suitability for waders and those that are still wet are advancing harvesting times. Conversely higher temperatures due to climate change are also affecting the flooding of rice fields. An example of this can be seen in Japan where the higher summer temperatures are bad for the rice harvest. In this case the farmers are delaying the flooding so that the harvest can be done in more suitable temperatures. The main use of the fields by waders is in the spring as they migrate north, and increasingly they find the rice fields dry and of little value for feeding.
In some places the rice fields are being abandoned altogether when they quickly become covered with tall vegetation making them of little use to waders. However, all is not lost for waders who frequent rice fields, particularly in the USA where the rice fields in South Carolina are managed wetlands and many areas are managed with waders in mind. Water levels are controlled to benefit them making areas always available to them, an idea that can be exported around the world and indeed has been with students at Gifu University in Japan involved in a project to persuade rice farmers to do just that.
Over grazing and under grazing by livestock
Grazing has been a friend to waders in the past, keeping vegetation relatively short can be an advantage along with the promotion of plant rich environments in which many invertebrates can dwell. However, over grazing turns the tables very quickly due to the increased threat to the eggs and young from trampling and also the reduction of any sort of cover for the birds. Under grazing on the other hand can result in the vegetation growing so much that it is rendered unsuitable for ground nesting birds due to its composition changing and scrub conditions prevailing.
Hay meadows replaced by silage
Another example of a species falling foul of farming changes is waders that breed in hay meadows such as the Black-tailed Godwit in the Netherlands. There are vast areas of lush Dutch meadows in which Black-tailed Godwits have found a home for many years. Hay meadows are wonderful places. Full of native plants and flowers upon which butterflies and other invertebrates can feed and breed attracting their predators. Among those predators are waders. In these meadows waders find a safe haven to breed, concealed by the growing grasses and other plants, the young are protected from prying eyes and also find plenty to eat and soon they fledge and fly to other habitats to continue their development before the hay meadows are cut in late June.
Well that is how it used to be, but these meadows are few and far between these days, they have been replaced by silage, a fast growing monoculture plant that can have several yields a year. The consequence for the natural world is that it is a much more sterile environment, no flowers grow and few other plants flourish which means there is nothing for the invertebrates and by dint, those that prey on them, to eat. Worse still, if the waders choose to breed in them they will seldom be able to bring off their young. Cutting can take place in early June before the chicks are fledged; they are defenceless against the mowing machines. If the cutting is earlier still, the chicks may be lost or the nest with eggs destroyed, earlier still and the birds find nowhere to nest at all. Either way, an entire population of birds is no longer able to reproduce and declines are inevitable as youngsters are not replacing the older birds that don’t survive each year.
In Brazil for example, there was much trumpeting about how they had reforested vast swathes of land, and the