Saving ground-nesting birds should be a national priority, poll finds

More than 60% of British adults say that preventing the extinction of ground-nesting birds such as the curlew and lapwing should be a high national priority, according to new polling for Ground Cry.

The survey of 2,050 UK adults, which was carried out by Opinium last month, also identified major knowledge gaps regarding these birds. The majority of the British public has not heard of the different types of ground-nesting birds tested – including the skylark, lapwing, curlew and golden plover – and almost half the population has not seen or heard the birds in the wild.

Which predators does the public recognise?

Furthermore, despite the public desire to save these red listed species, there is little awareness of which animals need to be controlled to prevent extinction. While 48% of the public recognises the impact of foxes, the threat of corvids is less known, with ravens on 25% and carrion crows on 24%. Additionally, nearly a third don’t know which animals are responsible for the predation.

What Ground Cry says the polling shows

Jamie Blackett, chairman of Ground Cry, said: “The public is ahead of the politicians on this. Six in 10 want the extinction of ground-nesting birds treated as a national priority, and that holds whether you live in a city or a village. These birds are vanishing because not enough chicks survive to adulthood, and that comes down to how land is managed. That must change.”